Yesterday I marched down the streets of Chicago (again). In the rain (again). The California Supreme Court voted 6-1 to uphold Proposition 8, cementing the current ban on same-sex marriage in the state. In somewhat bittersweet news, they allowed the 18,000 same-sex couples who got married in those few legal months to remain married. I feel that Dorothy Snarker summed up my feelings here exactly:
"The jumble of a ruling by the state’s highest court yesterday only serves to highlight the inherent inequality of banning gay marriage. In essence, the court created three classes of citizen in California. Gays who got married when it was legal. Gays who aren’t allowed to get married now that it’s illegal again. Straights who can get married anytime they damn well please. It makes no sense and yet there it is. Hello, separate, but in no way equal.
I am thrilled for the 18,000 couples who get to stay married. To be forcibly divorced by the government seems cruel beyond the realm of unusual. But if good timing is all that matters between “I do” and “I don’t” in the eyes of the state, how is this fair? Justice is supposed to be blind, not arbitrary."
And if one more heterosexual, upper-middle class, white male tells me that we lost 'fair and square' and should stop whining, I will snap. I told one guy that he can talk when the general population gets to vote on his basic civil rights. We did not lose 'fair and square.' Rights of a minority group were allowed to be voted away by the majority. The government and constitution is supposed to prevent the tyranny of the majority, is it not? Major changes in people's rights are supposed to be legislated. No one would allow white people to directly vote to take away rights of black people. Nor young people to shaft the elderly. Men to deny women. Right? We didn't have people taking to the streets all over the country (or the world) when NY and NH started dicking around, did we? Because even though the decisions so far have sucked, it's all gone through the proper channels. Bills have been killed in Senate, House or Governor's office. It wasn't just put to a general vote.
However, I just found out that the Prop 8 ruling has moved to federal court! The lawyers suing on behalf of a group of same-sex couples are hoping the case will be seen by the U.S. Supreme Court on the grounds "that Prop 8 violates the U.S. constitutional guarantee of equal protection and due process."
Keep your fingers crossed, folks! One day things will be right in this nation and we will be able to tell our kids about how we fought for what was right.
No comments:
Post a Comment