Seriously tho, he puts into words my very basic premise about this "stuff". So credit, where credit is due. He has some newer posts on the same topic. Very good writer, BTW. It is kinda long, but well reasoned and insightful. Sometimes it takes more than a sound bight. :-]
http://amerinz.blogspot.com/2009/05/california-and-time.html
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
California and time
Today the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that re-banned same-sex marriage in the state. In doing so, it was playing its part in California’s drama, but only a part. I think this saga tells us a lot about the nature of our opponents.
This whole drama began, most people think, when the California Supreme Court ruled that gay and lesbian people had the right to marry under the California Constitution. However, the California legislature passed marriage equality twice, and the Republican governor vetoed it twice. His thinking on the issue has never been particularly rational or consistent, but his double vetoes set the stage for the Court intervention. It was the willingness of the legislature to enact marriage equality that motivated the religious activists, and they would have acted regardless of what made that equality happen.
The religious right got their measure on the ballot and passed it with a small—but clear—majority of votes. Legal challenges were mounted, and today the court has upheld the right of the people to amend their constitution, even if doing so strips away fundamental rights.
This was a legally correct, but morally bankrupt decision. In a democracy, people have the right to take away the rights of the minority, even though it’s immoral to actually do so. The Prop 8 ruling violated every concept of universal justice in order to uphold the injustice of the majority deciding to take away the rights of a minority.
And yet, ultimately, this will be the best thing to have happened: Marriage equality came to California by judicial fiat, something that many people—not all of them on the knuckle-dragging end of the right wing—find, at best, troubling. The speed of the change left the court ahead of the people, and the anti-equality campaign capitalized on that. MORE
2 comments:
Thnx S - I read it all the way thro and some else too, as you hinted.
I also left him a comment on the apparent difference between our countries as to whether the legislators or the people lead changes in public opinion.
Intersting.
Hey just found your blog by complete accident and I love it!
I'm a 28 y/o gay guy from Michigan and I totally 100% agree with you. Outside of the religious right, the biggest argument against gay marriage is that it has been dictated by the courts. I have taken a lot of flack from my gay friends for vocally opposing such judicial tactics. I think that common everyday people (from both sides of the political aisle) need to support it at the ballot box for it to be truly a victory. I'm very confidant that our society is moving ever closer to that goal everyday.
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