California: Back From the Dead on Civil Rights.

Yesterday the California Supreme Court ruled, in a 4 to 3 decision, to overturn the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. Let me take this moment to congratulate Gavin Newsom and the thousands of gay rights activists on this, you could say stunning, victory. It’s stunning for two reasons: First, the California Court that made this ruling; that gay marriage bans are unconstitutional because they violate the equal protection clause, is a moderate to conservative court, and Republican judges all. Can we now finally put to rest the “activist judges are evil” line that social conservatives live and breathe for for Christ’s sake? They don’t even really know the difference between an activist judge and a constructionist judge. They slap the hateful label of “activist” on any justice who makes what can be perceived as a liberal decision, even if that decision is in keeping with the constitution, like obeying the equal protection clause for instance. They love the buck wild, right-wing judges in the south, however, who rule that the ten commandments must be displayed in every public building, which is a violation of the first amendment, and therefore would more accurately constitute an “activist” ruling. But rest assured, even though they were conservative, this ruling will go down huge in the right-wing rhetoric of liberal justice hating.

Secondly, it is stunning because a California lift on the ban will have a much bigger impact on this issue nationwide than a Massachusetts or Vermont ruling. California’s influence is enormous because of its size, but also because this ruling allows out of state gay couples the right to get married in California, which the Massachusetts law did not. Therefore, even though we weren’t the first state to do this, California has become the center of the gay rights universe. This is all the good news. The bad news, however, is that the permanence of this ruling can in no way be guaranteed, and the forces of intolerance will fight like hell to make sure that it isn’t. It’s also bad news because it has revived a wedge issue that could unite a fractious Republican Party just in time for the Presidential election. So while we hold our breath, and wait to see exactly how this will play out, let’s take time, at least for now, to celebrate an important victory in the cause of civil rights.

(You may have noticed the last entry on this blog was a guest post. I warmly welcome anyone to write on my blog, so long as you let me know what you are going to write about. I strongly encourage anyone to write a post that offers a contradicting point of view to something that I have written, or addresses a completely original topic. I don’t want to see a post that just agrees with, and restates any argument I have made. Hopefully, my arguments stand up well enough on their own. Let me know if you are interested.)

More to come. Thanks for caring.