What exactly is going on with the gay marriage debate nowadays? The answer is history, people. Just like the Civil and Women’s rights movements before, we are moving mountains (slowly) while pissing off some bigots in the process. God, I love this country. In all seriousness, though, the media has been discoursing the Supreme Court’s hearing of Proposition 8, and there has been a ton of controversy both outside the court (between the ultra conservatives and liberals) and even within the court. The Justices do not seem to know what to do, mainly because they cannot really agree on much of anything (no surprise there).
California’s Proposition 8 says that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California. It was passed during the November 2008 elections as a California ballot proposition and a state constitutional amendment. Of course, there is an issue with how this was passed; were voters in California entitled to enact Proposition 8, which overturned a State Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex marriage? Six justices questioned whether the case was properly before the court and indicated that they might vote to dismiss it. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy: “I just wonder if the case was properly granted.”
They might vote to dismiss the case on the threshold issue that supporters of Proposition 8 lacked standing to appeal a lower court’s decision. Either a ruling that would require same-sex marriage in all 50 states or one that would say that all states may do as they wish would be the outcome of this hearing, though neither choice seemed attractive to a majority of the justices.
But Justice Kennedy, who may hold the deciding vote, said he was uncertain about the consequences for society of allowing same-sex marriage. “We have five years of information to weigh against 2,000 years of history or more,” he said, referring to the long history of traditional marriage and the brief experience of allowing gay men and lesbians to marry in some states. I will tell you what will happen: nothing. Everybody will proceed on with their normal lives, Westboro Baptist Church (might) move on to another topic of “great importance”, and no harm to “traditional marriage” will come.
Justice Elena Kagan asked Charles J. Cooper, a lawyer for opponents of same-sex marriage, how letting gay couples marry harmed traditional marriages. “How does this cause and effect work?” she asked. Mr. Cooper responded that “it will refocus the purpose of marriage and the definition of marriage away from the raising of children and to the emotional needs and desires of adults, of adult couples.” The key to marriage, he said, is procreation. Justice Stephen G. Breyer asked Mr. Cooper about sterile opposite-sex couples. “There are lots of people who get married who can’t have children,” he said. Mr. Cooper said the court could not constitutionally ban such marriages, but he said that was no reason to alter traditional definitions. Why does he not just come out and say that he does not want to see same-sex couples married, at least he would be honest (even if it is wrong to withhold rights from another group of people because of YOUR beliefs).
Chief Justice Roberts said history was on the side of traditional marriage. “The institution developed,” he said, “to serve purposes that, by their nature, didn’t include homosexual couples.” Well guess what? Times have changed and we must be flexible and open-mined. Most people are acting like homosexuality is some new liberal invention designed to destroy our “traditional” way of living. Well guess what? Homosexuality has been around for as long as traditional marriage, even in Biblical times.
Homosexual behavior has been observed in 1,500 animal species, so if it is natural in the animal world (and may I remind you all that we are animals too) and they can do it without judging one another, why can we not practice the same? I will tell you what is not natural: being legally bound to somebody until you die.
I think monogamy (which led up to marriage) was only practiced to avoid incest. Besides, when Neanderthals were still around, it was believed that Homo Sapiens (us) bred with them. So if we have even bred with another species, what is the big deal about homosexual relationships? I just do not understand it.
When same-sex marriage was passed in New York, it really helped boost our economy. New York City reaped $259 million of economic benefits from same-sex marriages in the first year of the law allowing the practice. At least 8,200 gay-marriage licenses were issued, accounting for more than 10 percent of the 75,000 wedding licenses issued in New York City in the past year. Just keep those figures in mind.
Since there has been some confusion about the legality of gay marriage, I find it necessary to provide some clarification. If a state decides that gay marriage should be legal, then they would actually take precedence over DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act, which is federal law) because states are given more freedom when it comes to their own marriage laws by the federal government. If a gay couple gets married in a state where it is legal and they move to a state where it is not legal, they will still be married, but will not receive the federal benefits as they would have in the state where gay marriage is legal.
In about 40 years, our children and grandchildren will look back on this whole debate and think we were all a bunch of slime balls for not giving rights to a specific group of people just because they were “different”. Do not be fooled, this is a civil rights problem that needs to be addressed. “Those who will not reason are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves.” – George Gordon Byron. Take action, everybody (and that includes the Supreme Court)!
