Straight Eye for the Proposition 8 Guy

I, for one, hope that the ban on gay marriage in California remains overturned. I’m really looking forward to getting gay married. I’ve been straight married for almost six years now, and it’s been great, but I bet Tiffanie and I would be even happier if we were gay married.

In all seriousness, Judge Vaughn Walker’s decision should be celebrated by all Americans. As the judge noted, the Constitution of the United States of America indicates

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

I’m no lawyer or scholar of Constitutional law, but I’m pretty sure that means that if one group of people has a right to do something, all groups of people have that same right.

Social conservatives may not like it, but gay Americans are still Americans, and are thus entitled to equal protection. It doesn’t matter if homosexuality is a choice or biologically preordained. It doesn’t matter if one’s religion views it as abhorrent or not. It doesn’t even matter if it’s called marriage or civil union.

What matters is that a tyranny of the majority was struck down. The Federalist papers foresaw something like this happening over two-hundred years ago and railed against it. Yet today Maggie Gallagher, chairwoman of the National Organization for Marriage, thinks “our Founding Fathers… would be shocked by courts that imagine they have the right to put gay marriage in our Constitution.” Really, Maggie? First, California’s Supreme Court ruled that the original ban on same-sex marriage violated California’sConstitution. Second, because Prop 8 revoked a right homosexuals already had, it became a federal matter under the proviso of Amendment XIV. I think the Founders would have been thrilled to see the system they cobbled together work exactly the way it was supposed to. You forget, Mags; the Framers were notorious libertarians and state’s-righters.

I had to laugh this morning when a spokesperson for the Proposition 8 supporters encouraged people to read the Constitution, where they would find nothing about same-sex marriage rights. Interestingly enough, there’s also nothing in there about hetero marriage either, probably because it’s not the federal government’s fucking [pun intended] problem.

I applaud the Governator for not sending California’s Attorney General to defend Prop 8 in court. You know you’re on the wrong side of history when a conservative, lame-duck, Republican governor with nothing to lose won’t back you up on banning marriage between consenting adults.

Remember, kiddies, it’s supposed to be by, of, and for the people. Especially the “for” part. Here’s to one little victory.

Darius McCaskey Avatar

5 responses to “Straight Eye for the Proposition 8 Guy”

  1. Slee Avatar

    And may the Cubs win the World Series.
    Amen.

    1. Darius McCaskey Avatar

      @Slee: Hey, if the Blackhawks can win the Cup after 49 years, there’s yet hope for reason and courteous discourse in our political landscape. Either that or body checks. Yeah. I’d pay good money to see Nancy Pelosi put Glenn Beck into the boards.

      @MaryMomentum: That’s just it: Prop 8 was based on religious feelings, not on any prudent public interest. Put forth a ban on HIV-positive people getting married and I might consider it (I’d probably still object, but at least I’d weigh the evidence.) At least in that example there’s a reasonable public health concern being addressed. But this feeble attempt at an end-run around due process? Ridiculous.
      A good compromise might be to not issue “marriage licenses” at all, for anyone of any gender. Take the hint of religion out of it and only allow civil unions/ domestic partnerships to be authorized by the government. Let churches/ mosques/ synagogues/ covens/ whatever-the-fuck-else “marry” people. Then gays can’t be pissed that the government won’t let them marry, and straights can’t be pissed that they do. The government can then wash its hands of the whole mess. “You say the First Church of the Sub-Genius won’t marry you? Sorry, homos: separation of church and state. Nothing we can do. Why don’t you picket until they cave in? Kthnxbai.”

      And Google is awesome, ftr: sidebar ads on my site are now all for gay dating services. Lawlz.

  2. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by fentonslee, shaylan_ and Darius McCaskey, Darius McCaskey. Darius McCaskey said: That's me, right? 😉 RT @fentonslee: A nice post from a straight guy on Prop 8 getting pwned. http://bit.ly/daivKo […]

  3. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tiffanie McCaskey, Darius McCaskey. Darius McCaskey said: New blog post up – Straight Eye for the Proposition 8 Guy – http://3.136.9.181/?p=419. Please RT! […]

  4. MaryMomentum Avatar

    Where’s the “like” button on this one?

    Seriously, the “sanctity” of marriage is under attack from so many hetero sources, it’s laughable to see these religious hypocrites spending precious energy fighting a union forged with LOVE between consenting adults.

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