The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision in Perry v. Brown is the most significant advancement in the fight for marriage equality in American history to date.

Consider this: Never before has a federal appellate court affirmed any of the conclusions that the Ninth Circuit did today:

• that denying gay couples their right to marry does not and can not encourage opposite-sex marriages;
• that when a state denies the right to marry, while allowing gay couples all the rights and privileges of marriage, it cannot base the marriage ban on any rationale that denigrates gay parents;
• that domestic partnerships are unequal to marriage;
• that, as a matter of law, marriage rights do not hinge on natural procreative ability;

and, of course,

• that a ban on same-sex marriage is, therefore, unconstitutional.