SCOTUS, please take note.

Next week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments, over three days, on the case to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 8.

With so many changes during the past year, one can definitely say that public opinion and social evolution have moved in strong support for marriage equality.   Here's a list of what happened in 2012 and the first three months of 2013:

1.  President Obama and the Democratic Party announced support for marriage equality.

2.  Three more states adopted marriage equality -- and in these states the voters did it by referndum.

3.  The U. S. military is now officially open to gay men and lesbians at all ranks;  a lesbian was promoted to the rank of general, and a same-sex wedding was held in the chapel at West Point.

4.  The first person running as openly gay was elected to the U.S. Senate.

5.  Now, as another measure of how rapidly things are changing, the Conservative Political Action Conference went from excluding the GOP's own gay caucus GoProud from its meetings, when they were being set up, to this week having a big change of heart.   Those opposed to inclusiveness found themselves speaking to nearly empty rooms, while a panel on increasing tolerance -- and specifically mentioning gay marriage -- had a packed audience.

6.  Senator Rob Portman (Repuclican-OH) announced his support for gay marriage, saying that his son is gay;  and he wants him to have the same rights as his other two children.

If SCOTUS doesn't get this message from the conservative CPAC -- yes, the one that didn't invite Chris Christie to speak but had Sarah Palin and Rand Paul instead -- then they aren't paying attention.

And remember -- it was Justice Antonin Scalia himself who predicted, in his dissent to the decision that overturned all the sodomy laws in the U.S., that this would lead to same-sex marriage acceptance.

Ralph