On Monday, October 6th, 2014, the Supreme Court made a massive decision in gay marriage battles. This resulted in the legalization of gay marriage in five states, Virginia among them.

Except the Supreme Court didn’t decide anything at all.

To understand this, here’s a quick government lesson. The Supreme Court, which has the final say on Constitutionality in the United States, is an appellate court. When a controversial court case arises, like Virginia’s Bostic v. Schaefer which challenged the state’s former gay marriage ban, the case can be appealed after a ruling if one party disliked the ruling for whatever reason. If the process keeps going, eventually the case will reach the Supreme Court.

Virginia’s case was one of five pending decision from the Supreme Court. Had they taken up any of the cases and made a decision, it would have established a national precedent for gay marriage..

So instead of doing that, they said nothing, meaning that the opinion of the court below them would stand. In all of these five cases, that meant the legalization of gay marriage in those districts.

First of all, let me say that I was very happy when I first learned about this. I am very proud to be living in Virginia right now, though I would have preferred we legalize it before such conservative states as Utah and Oklahoma. But regardless, I am happy with the change.

However, I am not alone in thinking that the court should have done more. Many proponents of gay marriage wish that the court would have made a concrete decision in favor of gay marriage.

I doubt I am the first to acknowledge that their decision would certainly not have been a sure one. As one of the most divisive issues in the country right now, I would expect much intense debating. However, as their job is to interpret the Constitution, they definitely should have come down on the side of gay marriage.

There really is no Constitutional evidence against gay marriage. The main complaint of opponents is that it violates Christian values (maybe) and family values (absolutely not). But, regardless of personal opinion, no one can say that the Constitution ever states or implies that people should be denied their right to marriage.

I cannot help being reminded of the antebellum United States, where we allowed slavery to be decided state by state because if a politician was to pick a side, he would definitely lose any national votes.

In this way, the Supreme Court has set us in motion for a political revolution. By doing nothing, they spoke louder than any other organization could. Their “decision” is the concrete evidence that it is no longer socially acceptable to oppose gay marriage.

Personally, I would have loved it if they had made a decision and settled this thing once and for all. But a quick and swift death to bigotry just isn’t the American way.