Seldom do I get really excited anymore about a major political or social cause, even when it comes to gay rights, that is, my rights. Social attitudes take time to change, which is why I thought it was ridiculous we ever brought marriage equality to popular vote in Maine or anywhere. The rights of a minority should never be voted on by a majority. The majority has little interest in changing their ways to accomodate a minority and in all of American history, there is not a single example of a minority right being won nationwide by popular vote. When the Supreme Court struck down bans on interracial marriage in 1967, over 70% of Americans were opposed to interracial marriage. Current polls show that slightly more than half of Americans oppose same-sex marriage, so we’re doing pretty good in that respect. However, civil rights come from the high courts and Congress. I laugh every time I think of Americans voting on the rights of others – voting on same-sex marriage is as absurd as a community made up of 90% men voting on whether or not to allow women to vote, or Mainers voting on whether to criminalize interracial marriage.
So it brings me great joy to let you all know that same-sex marriage has its first Federal court hearing this Monday. Even better, it will be the first Federal hearing to be completely televised and published online. It will also be streamed live to other Federal courts. It’s a result of the Prop.8 appeals. I bet the Prop.8 people will really be kicking themselves if their campaign ultimately ends up being the route to nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage! Don’t think the Supreme Court would rule in favor of same-sex couples? Guess what – it already did in 2003. Lookup Lawrence v. Texas. The lawyers opposed to same-sex marriage have already stated that they cannot produce a single example of how same-sex marriage would harm society. Obviously the trial won’t be resolved in one day – it will likely go on for a while. Monday is just the beginning. Our side is arguing that Prop.8 is unconstitutional because it creates a separate class of people, as did the sodomy laws that were oveturned by Lawrence v. Texas. Laws against same-sex marriage violate the Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution. There are many other good arguments for same-sex marriage and so far there are no legal or rational arguments against same-sex marriage. The court obviously will not hear religious arguments or the fear-inducing propaganda like that spread in California and Maine during Prop.8 and Question 1. We have a little thing called Separation of Church and State in our country.
CNN has reported that the video of the hearing will become available to the public via YouTube Daily. Those opposed to same-sex marriage (supporters of Prop.8) didn’t want the video aired publicly because they feared retaliation. I say good – their actions represent a direct attack on a minority of people based on how we were born, attempting to strip away our basic human rights and invalidate the real love shared by same-sex couples and their families. They’re trying their best to make us secondclass citizens who are lesser and don’t have basic rights. Last time that happened we called it the Holocaust. In Maine the Christian Civic League, energized by the Question 1 results, is promoting the reintroduction of sodomy laws in Maine, which is impossible because the states cannot violate the US Constitution. Nonetheless, the stupidity continues. *Sigh*. Someday soon we will look back at all of this and wonder why it was ever an issue, just as most of us wonder why interracial marriage was an issue 50 years ago, when the same people and organizations who are now opposed to same-sex marriage were throwing out scripture to argue that God “did not intend the races to mix.”
We will see same-sex marriage legalized nationally in our lifetime. I think it’s a matter of a few years at most. Monday’s trial is the beginning of what will likely end in a Supreme Court or Congressional decision striking down DOMA and all state laws against same-sex marriage. Our side has also subpoenaed documents from the Prop.8 campaign showing that the campaign was fueled by homophobia and religious bigotry (big surprise). However, that’s going to be extremely important for our success in this trial because it shows an additional malice and violation of Due Process as required by the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court ruled in Loving: “There is patently no legitimate overriding purpose independent of invidious racial discrimination which justifies this classification. The fact that Virginia prohibits only interracial marriages involving white persons demonstrates that the racial classifications must stand on their own justification, as measures designed to maintain White Supremacy. It takes no stretch of the imagination to replace racial discrimination with homophobia and White Supremacy with heterosexism. In my mind we’ve already won – we’re just waiting for the court to announce it officially. Monday is the first step!!!