An Important Day
It's hard not to be touched by pictures like this one. Today is a day that will not soon be forgotten by millions of Californians. I'm happy for them all.
posted by A.L. at 10:23 PM
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Who Am I? For what it's worth, I'm a litigator at a large national law firm (at least until someone offers to pay me to write about politics). Until then, I'll just have to go by A.L.
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7 Comments:
Absolutely. I'd add that this is our victory as well. Their rights are our rights.
Suppression of their rights represents suppression of our own. The struggle for our collective self-evident and unalienable rights has been moved foward.
I am not touched. This ruling was about the use of a word. What it will do is rouse conservatives and help Republicans in races for Congress and the California Senate and Assembly. That will make it harder to fairly raise taxes to pay for support for the poor and unfortunate. I know people who are struggling and they need relief on a number of areas (e.g. qualifying for MediCal - the state's version of MediCaid).
In exchange for symbolism (which would have naturally taken place over the next decade) there will be real tangible negative results for the poor, sick, and unfortunate. People will die sooner, or simply die. This is a good trade-off?
As a liberal who looks at the final results: food in the belly, medical services, affordable shelter, this ruling is most unwelcome. If gays were not given the same legal rights, that would be one thing, but the court frankly admits that's not the issue.
Back when Gavin Newsom went handing out marriage certificates in 2004 and the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled allowing gay marriage, I was worried that it would hurt Democrats that election year. With the several-state initiatives that Rove supported, a good case can be made that it hurt Kerry. A better case can be made that it helped Republicans in congressional races. The result? Roberts and Alito on the Supreme Court for decades.
The California ruling is about symbolism. A symbolism that won't help allievate material inequalities in this country. A symbolism that will help motivate conservatives and Republicans this fall.
If you are going to link to Sullivan's pictures of happy gays, why not link to some pictures of people dying because they aren't getting needed support from the state of California? Because that's the reality.
Quiddity is wrong.
First, it's rank foolishness to say that our struggle for equality will lead to republicans will lead to more poor people thus we should stop. Way too many steps for any kinds of real causation. And that suggests that ANYTHING that MIGHT endanger Democratic chances in this election must simply be suppressed, because, heavens! think about the children!
Also, it is not just about a word. The Court fully acknowledged that the word has meaning. For example, what do you say in situations where you have to disclose your marital status but don't want to disclose your sexual orientation? And I dispute the fact that the civil union system is in fact equal to marriage--the court said it was almost the same.
And finally, he says it's just a symbol. Strangely, the only people who say "get over it, it's just a symbol" are the ones that don't have to put up with not having that symbol. Just like the people who say being gay is a choice are the ones who've never had to make that choice.
(Oh, and Greenwald does a great job of shooting down the idea that this wedge issue is really that big of a threat to the Democrats.)
I hope that marriage is one day open to mudkip relationships.
Good job, Cali, keep going!
I am in agreement with A.L.
First of all this issue transcends partisan politics. It may cost the Dems some votes (though I think that with each coming election cycle the delta keeps getting smaller), but if you are truly socially liberal you have to applaud this move.
If it matters - I am straight and married.
Homophobia is soooo gay.
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