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Conservative columnist George Will suspects that the Supreme Court could support equal rights for LGBT people because "quite literally the opposition to gay marriage is dying... it's old people."

On Friday, the Supreme Court announced that it would take up cases on California's Prop 8 same sex marriage ban and the federal government's Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denies benefits to gay and lesbian spouses.

Will on Sunday suggested that it was not a coincidence that the court decided to hear the cases just a month after voters in Maine, Maryland and Washington backed marriage equality.

"It could make them say, 'It's not necessary for us to go here,'" Will explained. "They don't want to do what they did with abortion. The country was having a constructive accommodation on abortion, liberalizing abortion laws. The court yanked the subject out of democratic discourse and embittered the argument."

He continued: "On the other hand, they can say it's now safe to look at this because there is something like an emerging consensus. Quite literally, the opposition to gay marriage is dying... it's old people."

Republican strategist Mary Matalin, who has previously said that marriage equality is not a civil right, asserted that polls now show Americans support same sex marriage because they know it's not a "threat to the civil order."

"Well, because Americans have common sense," she explained. "There are important constitutional, biological, theological, ontological questions relative to homosexual marriage. People who live in the real world say, the greater threat to the civil order are the heterosexuals who don’t get married and are making babies. That’s an epidemic in crisis proportions. That is irrefutably more problematic for our culture than homosexuals getting married."

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A 14-year-old girl named "Sarah" asked lawmakers in Maryland on Tuesday to vote against marriage equality for her birthday.

Testifying before Maryland's Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, Sarah said it "would be the best birthday present ever if you would vote no on gay marriage."

"I really feel bad for the kids who have two parents of the same gender," the girl explained. "Even though some kids feel like it's fine, they have no idea of what kind of wonderful experiences they miss out on. I don't want any more kids to get confused about what's right and OK."

"People have the choice to be gay, but I don’t want to be affected by their choice," Sarah continued. "People say they were just born that way, but I’ve met really nice adults who did change."

"So, please vote no on gay marriage."

The New Civil Rights Movement's David Badash pointed to Sarah's home schooling as possible source of her opposition to equal rights for gay men and lesbians.

"This is the kind of ludicrous stupidity that comes when children are home schooled," he wrote. "[B]y and large, home schooled kids are subject to an education of their parents’ making and that means they can be brainwashed like this 14-year-old."

"While we’re at it, how is it even possible that this 14-year old was allowed to testify? Who arranged this? What value does her testimony have, since she wasn’t raised by a same-sex couple?" Bash added. "Perhaps they’ll have a 13-year-old weigh in on the healthcare debate next?"

The Maryland Senate is expected to eventually approve the marriage equality bill. But things do not look as hopeful in the House of Delegates, where lawmakers rejected a similar bill last year.

(H/T: Think Progress)