Judge Vaughn Walker did the right thing today.
He overturned California's Proposition 8, stating that it was unconstitutional under both the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the U.S. Constitution. He said the proposition "fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license." He then added "...the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same sex couples."
Judge Walker's historic decision doesn't really change anything. The pro-8 people will file an immediate appeal and nothing will be settled completely until the issue is heard by the Supreme Court, but what an air of jubilation permeated all the social media web sites, news shows, and streets of cities across the state this afternoon.
There were jubilant posts to Facebook all afternoon.
My friend Jennifer wrote, Seriously, truly, so excited I can't see straight! After going through the process of fingerprinting and an FBI criminal search to *start* the months-long process of getting a name change that would be a simple 2-step process if we were recognized legally, this excites me no end!
Holly wrote: a pre-planned dinner w/Sar and Kym turned into a celebration of love and the occasional triumph of reason in the American judiciary. In an adult life full mostly of political and judicial disappointments, this has been one of the few occasions on which I feel celebration is fully in order.
My friend John wrote, My partner and I (of 30+ years) were married in California on June 17, 2008.
Proposition 8 made it illegal for any further gay marriages to be performed in California. Even though my marriage was grandfathered in, you cannot imagine how it felt.
I know this is just part of an ongoing battle to get gay marriage accepted, and it is STILL not legal in my own home state, but emotionally it is definitely a VERY big deal.
John had his own very personal examples of that "sanctity of marriage" business that Prop 8 supporters are so fond of spouting:
I remember when my sister had her first marriage. She got all her brothers together to let all of us know that SHE had picked the perfect man for the perfect marriage. HER marriage was going to be perfect in every way and was going to last forever because SHE had taken the time to find the PERFECT person, unlike all of us who so clearly had never made any good choices in our lives.
That marriage lasted a bit over a year before falling apart. She now is in her 2nd marriage with a physically abusive husband and two dysfunctional kids.
She invited me to both of her marriages, but never invited my partner (now 34 years together). I guess that was because our relationship was so inferior to her absolutely perfect one(s).
When the police threatened to take her kids away from her if they had to be called to her home one more time for domestic violence reports, she moved to California.
There she was naturally a supporter of Proposition 8. She has always been a firm believer that marriage has to be "saved" by destroying the marriages of gays.
Perhaps if she destroys my marriage the police will stop coming to her house. Maybe her husband will stop beating her. Who knows, perhaps her kids will stop mimicking the violence they have been exposed to all their lives if she succeeds in destroying my marriage.
Somehow I don't think so.
But even if it did, she should have enough morality to realize that one's own happiness is not worth destroying the happiness of others, and destroying the lives of others will not REALLY make her own life any better.
The issue is going to drag on through the courts for probably years. Right now there is a 3 day moratorium on marriage. The pro-8s are hoping to keep the moratorium in place until a decision is finally rendered by the Supreme Court, which merely adds insult to injury. Let's hope the ban on marriage will be lifted this week.
It's only another step toward the full recognition of same sex unions in this country, but every step forward feels like a huge leap toward eventual equality for every tax-paying citizen in this country, no matter what their sexual orientation.
Good going, Judge Walker!!
3 comments:
There is no way that one couple's marriage style damages another's -- unless, of course, there is something else going on and lifestyle is meant to be the scapegoat.
No one else's marriage damaged mine -- or yours. And John's sisters unfortunate choices didn't separate him and his partner.
Hey Bev...
Please don't get upset with me.I know you won't agree with this at all but I really believe this:
I still think it is a matter of semantics.
I am all for stable,mature lifelong gay couples having all the rights and priviliges they deserve but you still can't call it "marriage". It is NOT the same.
It's like me hitching up my donkey on a cart and taking her into town. I want to call her a "car". I insist she is a "car". I make everyone call her a "car". And yeah...she sort of is a "car"...she gets me into town, she is a form of transportation, she is mobile and I have to put fuel into her. But she is NOT a "car".
Gay "marriage" is not marriage in the most traditional sense, no matter how open-minded and free thinking you are.
Just discussing it is clumsy and awkward.
I honestly think people would be a lot more comfortable with this concept if we had a whole new set of semantics dealing with gay relationships.
I'm just sayin'.....
sunny from TMA
I respect your right to your own opinion, Sunny, but I think you probably don't know any gay couples.
Marriage is defined as "is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found."
I don't see how gender makes any difference when you want to make a commitment to each other for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, until death do you part.
Just because "it's always been that way" doesn't mean it always has to be that way (see the Loving case, where to people of different colors wanted to marry, and that was against the law)
But, like I said, everyone has the right to their own opinion.
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