Gay marriage foes have lost the argument
Posted on Friday, August 06, 2010 at 05:13 PM
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Sometimes the courts have to remind us that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are for every American, not just the one's who share our views.
This week, in a landmark ruling, California U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that Proposition 8 violated the due process and equal protection clause of the 14 amendment of the constitution.
Walker's decision may be to your liking, or it may not, but there's no question the ruling is sound. Proposition 8 marked the first time in American history that citizens voted to remove rights, not protect them.
But rights are not enumerated by a 51% majority. We vote on a lot of things in America, but we should not vote on whether other Americans are equal under the law.
That's why it's galling that the same people who sat silent when the Roberts court ruled that corporations are people (and should be able to use their largess to secretly influence elections) are now shouting themselves hoarse about 'activist judges.'
If you can't be consistent, at least make a convincing stab at it, or you'll end up looking like a crank.
It's fair to say the Civil Rights Act of 1968 would not have been upheld had it been voted on - 72% of the public at the time opposed it; and it's fair to say that same sex marriage rights would not be upheld if put to a vote yet (all 31 states who voted on the issue voted against marriage equality).
The courts, however, have consistently ruled that marriage is a basic human right and for that reason same sex marriage is now legal in Iowa, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. The list will grow.
Walker's ruling is being dismissed by some as biased. Being gay, they say, he can't have any objectivity on issues affecting gay life. Apart from being presumptuous (he has never actually announced he's gay) if this this claim was followed to it's conclusion then American jurisprudence would grind to a standstill.
Despite what his critics are saying Walker was nominated to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan, and renominated twice by President George H.W. Bush. He's no far left demagogue, he's a fierce and independent conservative who was initially opposed on those grounds.
The fact is that Proposition 8's defenders did not even come close to presenting persuasive evidence in court supporting their claim that gay marriages harm society and individuals. Two of their expert witnesses actually ended up agreeing they could point to no proof at all.
This is a significant and far reaching failure because for decades conservative activists have been predicting doom if same-sex marriage became legal. But it has become legal and they've become Chicken Little's, shouting louder because they've lost their audience.
'The evidence shows that, by every available metric, opposite-sex couples are not better than their same-sex counterparts; instead, as partners, parents and citizens, opposite-sex couples and same-sex couples are equal,' Walker wrote in his exacting, 136-page opinion.
Children born in 2010 will reach voting age and be appalled to remember that America once deprived gays and lesbians of the right to marry. Because by 2028 it will be a settled fact of life.
This game is over. A longstanding injustice is being redressed.
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Pittsburghkid | Dec 16, 2011, 12:17 AM EST
Have you noticed all the Republican State Governments? For some reason, States turn Republican, after gay marriage is adopted. During the 70's Night Clubs were popular, but not all were successful. First they'd start out as disco, if that failed then they turn Country Western, if that failed then they'd turn non drinking teenage, and finally they'd turn Gay before closing up for good.
The Democrat Party has turned Gay, which is in its last phase.
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hollabackgurl | Aug 27, 2010, 04:11 PM EDT
Gay people don't care what you call it, and how can you not know that, at this stage? They're not fighting for a word, they're fighting for their lives. They want their relationships to enjoy the same legal protections that other Americans do. No better, no worse. That's all.
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patrick1945 | Aug 25, 2010, 01:55 PM EDT
You know as well as everyone this is not a battle over rights, it is a battle over the term "Marriage". The term "Gay Union" or Gay Matrimony would cause little opposition.
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IrishAndProud | Aug 24, 2010, 05:05 AM EDT
Well, you know what they say about assuming, hollabackgurl...be careful of those first three letters. A sixy-year-old would be old enough to be my parent, though I don't know about yourself. And...it's not for no reason that it's said 'If you're conservative at twenty, you have no heart -- but if you're liberal at 40, you have no brain.' If they aren't already, people tend to grow more conservative as they get older -- hence the reason conservatives vastly outnumber liberals in the USA (that's 2-1 according to Gallup)...41 years and counting after Woodstock (btw those people are now BEYOND 60). Liberalism is dying. It is not inevitable. What is inevitable is that someday YOU will die, and conservatism will still be there. BTW you're anti-straight.
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hollabackgurl | Aug 22, 2010, 10:26 PM EDT
I assume from your tone and tenor that you're over 60 IrishandProud. Young Americans, overwhelmingly, do not share your anti-gay views. A CNN poll this month found that a narrow majority of Americans supported same-sex marriage. It is inevitable.
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IrishAndProud | Aug 19, 2010, 08:55 PM EDT
No, they're not. Liberalism is not 'inevitable'; it's dying. Conservative victories -- now THAT's inevitable. That is the majority, and they cannot be ignored or stamped out forever. Ain't...gonna...happen.
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olovely | Aug 18, 2010, 11:07 PM EDT
Same sex marriage rights are inevitable.
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IrishAndProud | Aug 16, 2010, 10:15 PM EDT
So...now that this even HIGHER court has stayed the previous judge's ruling, do you accept THIS ruling as 'final', like you were oh-so-quick to do with the previous judge, hollabackgurl (or you too, for that matter, Cahir)? You see, when you jump too soon with your taunts and dismissiveness toward the majority on a matter such as this -- and simply because you thought you had the upper hand, at that point in time -- you reveal how snooty and short-sighted you were...and you end up with your foot in your mouth, again. You really aren't much for long-term vision and thinking. Each thing is just one battle, and there are many left to be fought, on this issue alone.
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IrishAndProud | Aug 16, 2010, 10:08 PM EDT
Whoops...not so fast...an Appeals Court has just put an indefinite hold on same-sex 'marriages,' pending a review of this case. B-but...Cahir and hollabackgurl say the 'game' is over, and the other side's lost...hmmm...how can this be (unless maybe there was that appeals process I referred to but that Hollabackgurl preemtively assumed would only back HER side of it)...???
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hollabackgurl | Aug 14, 2010, 11:08 AM EDT
You'll probably be surprised to hear this but nowadays there aren't many LGBT people who would actually want a Catholic marriage ceremony. In fact I've never even heard of anyone bothering. It's olden days stuff. Something your granny might have sought but hardly worth the effort. You're profoundly optimistic to think that anyone under 40 will be interested by 2028, never mind the gay community.
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jacersisityourself | Aug 14, 2010, 08:43 AM EDT
I've just spotted that Irish Central has posted this article in its archives under the heading of Entertainment. Appropiate that, now that I think of it.
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jacersisityourself | Aug 13, 2010, 09:20 PM EDT
I agree with IrishAndProud – hollabackgurl’s comments are becoming more and more incoherent rants. I’ve had my say already, earlier, but I have to come back to Cahir’s article above after reading Dublin’s Archbishop Martin’s letter to his diocesan priests about the Sacraments of Christ (yes - that letter which revealed that his Auxiliary Bishops would remain as such). In his letter, Dr. Martin says “... we should invite (people) to formally apply for all sacraments...” Well, well, well... so what do you think will happen in2028, or any year, if Gays and Lesbians formally apply to their local priest for the Sacrament of Marriage? Enough said... again I say that Cahir is disillusioning himself with his “Game over...” allegation. As I’ve consistently pointed out, Gays and Lesbians can never ever have what doesn’t exist for them – in Christian/Catholic sacrament or within other religions and no religions. Man & Woman only can execute fundamental marriage. Fundamental rights to marriage cannot apply to people who cannot execute fundamental marriage. Anything else is sham.
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IrishAndProud | Aug 13, 2010, 08:22 PM EDT
And let's see what's been happening on the domestic front, whilst we're at it [BEGIN QUOTE]: "In every week of his presidency until now, Barack Obama has enjoyed a majority approval rating in the Gallup Poll from people earning less than $2,000 per month. But that changed in the Gallup survey conducted from Aug. 2-8, when only 49 percent of Americans in that income bracket said they approve of the job Obama is doing. This marks the first time since Obama was inaugurated on January 20, 2009, when Americans in all four of the income brackets reported in Gallup’s weekly survey of presidential approval gave Obama less than 50 percent approval." [END QUOTE]
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IrishAndProud | Aug 13, 2010, 08:13 PM EDT
I might add...the greatest favor that Barack Obama ever does is to consistently underestimate (not to mention besmirch, slander, attack and ignore) the American people, themselves. Obama has probably been the single greatest energizer and sweller of conservative ranks that has ever happened in my lifetime -- and perhaps ever, period.
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