Supreme Court to hear gay marriage cases boosts spirits of some local same-sex couples

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Tony Plakas and Jamie Foreman of Lake Worth got married last year in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Gay marriage is legal there, but not in Florida.

Voters banned it in 2008.

"What we have learned in the last year is that marriage matters," said Plakas.

U.S. Supreme Court justices are choosing to weigh two cases next year.

One involves California's ban on gay marriage.

How justices decide that case could solidify a right to gay marriage, or the right for states to ban it.

A separate decision will determine whether the federal government can deny benefits to same sex couples.

"We know the Supreme Court has a funny little way of picking up issues when they're at a tipping point," said Plakas.

In 2008, one poll said only 39 percent of Americans supported gay marriage.

But that number is now 49 percent.

Another poll says young Americans favor it overwhelmingly, 73% to 26%.

Fr. Alfredo Hernandez of St. Juliana Catholic Church says one thing that will never change is the church's opposition.

"There is no doubt we have been going against the current. Sometimes when you go against the current, even if you don't win the battle, somewhere along the way, people are going to say, 'Maybe they were right,' " said Hernandez.

With the next battle field the Supreme Court, Plakas and Foreman are hoping to have an answer  by June that will solidify their marriage under the eyes of the federal government.

"I don't care if people think their marriage is better than mine, I just want equal protection under the law," said Plakas.