Who Should Change the Law on Social Issues?

An excerpt from Stephen Hayward's discussion at Powerline of gay marriage:

"First, the one thing to be said in favor of the New York decision is that it was done by a vote of the legislature, a politically accountable branch of government, rather than imposed by judicial fiat through a strained construction of the “Cosmic Justice clause” “Equal Protection” clause of the 14^th Amendment.  New York’s path is how democracies ought to enact social changes of this kind, and indeed this is how most conservatives and libertarians have been saying the matter should be resolved for some time now, which explains the relative quiescence of many conservatives about New York’s vote"

 I suppose many would agree with that. It is, however, interesting to note slavery was abolished in some Northern states by court decision, not by legislative action.