Fifty-eight years after it banned discrimination in public education, the Supreme Court has set the stage for the defining civil rights decision of this era — agreeing to hear two cases challenging laws that define marriage to exclude couples of the same sex. To us, and a growing number of Americans, the right course seems clear: that the justices continue the march toward real equality.

Read more in The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/08/opinion/next-civil-rights-landmark.html?src=rechp