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crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
The California court has ruled:
The state Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, but also decided that the estimated 18,000 gay couples who tied the knot before the law took effect will stay wed.
The justices rejected an argument from gay-rights activists that the ban revised the California constitution's equal protection clause to such a dramatic degree that it first needed the Legislature's approval.
No surprise there. Those angry at this ruling are calling for protests:
Activists in the San Francisco Bay area, including several clergy members, said they planned to block the street outside the courthouse and to be arrested in a mass show of civil disobedience if the justices did not invalidate Prop 8.
"Words are not enough right now. We believe it's time to put our bodies on the line to show that separate is not equal," said Kip Williams, an activist with One Struggle, One Fight, a group that was launched in response to Proposition 8's passage.
Again not a surprise. I'm all for acts of civil disobedience but only up until the point where they benefit our opposition instead of us. And I continue to cringe to think that people like Matt Barber and Maggie Gallagher are lurking around the blogs to find and exploit comments from righteously indignant lgbts.
But then I'm not totally upset over the ruling. The door of marriage equality has been opened due to the fact that 18,000 lgbt couples remain legally wed. And that door isn't going to close. And I know the religious right isn't happy over that.
Despite the ruling, the momentum is on the side of the lgbt community in this fight. We got good news in several states and several more will follow. This minor setback in California can be alleviated if folks there use their anger to push another referendum that would invalidate Prop 8.
And I think they will.
Meanwhile, the rest of us should continue to fight for our rights to self determination. Remember that marriage equality is only one of many fights that the lgbt community must engage. Down here in South Carolina, we are slowly but surely striving forward.
Most likely next month, the lgbt community here will reach a milestone in communication. It took a long time to reach this point and while I'm not at liberty to say what it is right now (although I may soon), trust when I say that it's a positive step.
The Prop 8 should be seen as a minor negative eruption a huge landscape that can and will be alleviated.
Never forget that regardless of what things look like now, we are going to win in the end.
3 Comments
I think this was a huge loss to all Californiansbecause now the CASC has confirmed that a simple majority may constitutionally rip existing rights from ANY minority. California has lost the illusion that its constitution was in place to protect the rights of the individual or the minority. It’s not. It is in place to protect the tyrany of the majority. What a sad, sad day and what a huge loss for equality under the law. Mob rule is the rule in CA.
No loss?I’d ask for some of whatever you’re smoking, but I don’t want it if it skews your reality that much. Tell every person who wants to get married, but is prevented by this ruling that it was no loss. Tell every person who got the loud and clear message that their rights are subject to the whim of a 50%+1 plurality vote. Tell 1/8 of the population of the entire country that this was just a little blip, and nothing at all to worry about.
Oh, please, enough with the I’ve got a secret bullshit. If you can’t/won’t say anything substantive, why say anything at all?
Don’t worry . . .Not to worry about the what I said about the lgbts in South Carolina. It will be something positive. I wanted to mention it briefly as to let folks know that the fight for equality is not diminished by what happened in California. When the time comes, I will go into detail about it.
Also, I stand by my opinion that the ruling is not a total loss. The court did not rule against marriage equality, they merely said that citizens do have a right to change their constitution. I don’t like the fact that the court did not rule against Prop 8 but the fact that it did not do away with those 18,000 marriages says a lot. Marriage equality in California is inevitable but it will take some time