Widely covered elsewhere, but this is a positive move in the direction towards eliminating discrimination in America:
California’s Supreme Court declared that gay couples in the nation’s biggest state can marry — a monumental but perhaps short-lived victory for the gay rights movement Thursday that was greeted with tears, hugs, kisses and at least one instant proposal of matrimony.
Same-sex couples could tie the knot in as little as a month. But the window could close soon after — religious and social conservatives are pressing to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November that would undo the Supreme Court ruling and ban gay marriage.AP
I’ve been a long time supporter of equal rights on the marriage front, and this is great news from California. You have to wonder how many people these social conservatives could help – the poor, homeless, sick – if they directed their energy and resources towards helping those people instead of continually hampering the rights of couples who want the same benefits and rights the rest of us have.
I live in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Milwaukee, WI with my wife Jen, our daughter Emerson, and son Carter.
I think the timing of this is absolutely absurd. Do liberals intentionally make it their mission to lose presidential elections? First, the two major Democratic candidates allow the primary process to devolve into an ugly bloodbath which, let’s be frank, is exposing some pretty ugly racial tendencies within the Democratic party. Now we’ve got the California supreme court, once again, bringing the issue of gay marriage into the forefront – right before the general election season! Granted, the GOP is the early underdog headed into this thing, but why the heck would they pick NOW as the time to do this? Why give the fundamental values voters red meat to sink their teeth into and motivation to flood the polls come November?
I hear ya Les, but I don’t think
the Democratic Partylibruls sets the docket for the Supreme Court of California :)I said liberals.
Au contraire, mon frere. Not directly, of course, but liberals – or, for our purposes here, those who support gay marriage rights and would most likely benefit from the election of a Democratic president (SCOTUS anyone?) – most CERTAINLY have “set the docket”, in a manner of speaking, for the California Supreme Court when it comes to the gay marriage issue!
Therese Stewart, a long-time champion of same-sex marriage rights in California, filed a petition for a state Supreme Court review of the appellate court’s decision to support Proposition 22 LESS THAN A WEEK after the Democratic party’s sweeping 2006 midterm election gains. Those election results made it resoundingly clear that the left was once again politically viable and, most importantly, had a legitimate shot to assume control of both the legislative and executive branches of government in 2008. As someone so intricately involved with the ongoing fight, Stewart had to realize the case would most likely linger for awhile. Sure enough, here we are heading into the general election season, and a wedge issue like gay marriage re-emerges into the national spotlight. Again, the GOP might not have much of a chance this fall anyway, but F–K!! No need to make it any easier.
Freakin’ state courts. Big picture, people.
Interestingly enough, 6 of the 7 justices on the California State Supreme Court were appointed by Republican governors.