"On no issue in American life have opinions changed as quickly as on gay rights," said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster and political consultant . “It's truly an amazing development.” (Yost) Currently, the U.S. government has left the decision on same-sex marriage and civil unions up to the states, opening the door for many states to ban them and thus leading to unfair treatment of individuals in some states. Same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue and should be left to the federal government to decide. Individual states should not be left free to discriminate against citizens, religious devotions cannot be used to promote the equal rights of those who do not share the same beliefs, and the treatment of individuals should be the same in whichever state they reside. The treatment of individuals should be the same no matter what state they live in. Although a growing number of states support equal rights for same-sex couples, many states do not recognize rights afforded by other states. If someone moves from one state to another that does not provide these rights, they may run into some problems. For example, a lesbian couple with a daughter from a state that supports equality moved to Texas, a state that opposes it. Since one of the parents was not the biological mother and Texas does not recognize same-sex relationships, the non-biological mother had to adopt the child in order to be a legal guardian (Fernandez). However, when the law promoting this inequality was brought to federal court, it was struck down. The family said: "Ultimately, the repeal of Texas' ban will mean that our son will never know how this denial of equal protections humiliated our family and diminished his parents' relationship." (Ferna... half of the document... go into effect. However, as we can see here, the federal government's view is that these state bans are unconstitutional. Therefore, states should no longer be able to discriminate against citizens in this way. A final and speedy decision on same-sex marriage should be left to the federal government. Individual states can no longer discriminate against citizens Likewise, a decision made by the national government is the only way to ensure that the treatment of individuals in each state is not aimed at taking away the sovereignty of the states, but at increasing the sovereignty of the individual in the United States deserves equal treatment and therefore the entire country must enforce this fundamental tenet of our principles.