Here We Go Again

“Marriage today is not what it was under the common law tradition, under the civil law tradition,” said Ginsburg when Justices Roberts and Kennedy began to fret about whether the court had a right to challenge centuries of tradition.

“Marriage was a relationship of a dominant male to a subordinate female,” she explained. “That ended as a result of this court’s decision in 1982 when Louisiana’s Head and Master Rule was struck down… Would that be a choice that state should be allowed to have? To cling to marriage the way it once was?”

Another government has now legalised gay marriage, and this time it's mine.

So the Supreme Court struck down DOMA, as expected. Good news for the couples in states where gay marriage is legal - now the federal government can't pretend their marriages aren't real.

Something of a sneaky move by the Supreme Court on Prop 8 - they managed to leave the California court's ruling that Prop 8 is unconstitutional to stand, thereby killing off Prop 8, without setting a precedent that would mean no state can ban gay marriage. I find it a little odd that they even took the Prop 8 case in the first place - their conclusion that private citizens don't have the right to defend a law that the government won't support was equally valid months ago.

And then, of course, there was the dedicated Wendy Davis, with her nearly 11 hour filibuster in the Texas State Legislature yesterday, and the equally determined crowd of her supporters who managed to stop the bill when her filibuster was halted. The bill would effectively have made it impossible to get an abortion in Texas outside major urban areas - unreasonable demands placed on abortion clinics would have forced most of them to close. When Davis' filibuster was ended and it looked as if the bill might pass, the public gallery took over from her and created a fifteen minute wall of cheering and clapping that stopped the vote from being held. The live stream at that point was pretty awesome, with utter chaos in the Capitol.

After the midnight deadline, when the crowd went quiet, the Senate vote was held, and the timestamp on the official records was altered to make it look like the vote was held before midnight. At least the lieutenant governor, who personally supported the bill, was honest about it, and admitted that the bill was out of time.

So, democracy vs democracy - the elected representatives voted one way, and their constituents turned out in person to say, 'Hey, this isn't what we wanted you to legislate.' Good for them.

It seems to be official now - enough of the votes counted and announcement made. In yesterday's voting, Washington state, along with Maryland and Maine, became the first US states to choose gay marriage by popular vote. I live in this amazingly beautiful, varied, awe-inspiring landscape, and apparently I share it with a majority of people who are thoughtful, generous and open-minded. This really is a fabulous place to live, and my fellow Washingtonians have made me so proud to be here.

Of course we also, along with Colorado, became the first state to choose legalising recreational marijuana, a measure publicly supported by several ex-federal drug enforcers, the entire Seattle city council and the King County sheriff, who has better things to do with their time than prosecute people over a joint. I anticipate much fun and games with the federal authorities! Given how much trouble the DEA has been giving California over medical suppliers of pot, it's going to be interesting XD

Edit: Okay, it seems the Seattle Times was getting ahead of itself for a moment there - still not official yet, but everyone seems convinced.

Every now and then a politician will do something awesome that melts some of my cynicism about elected officials. Today it is the Mayor of Boston, for bluntly telling the homophobic owner of a fast food chain that his outlets are not wanted in the city.

Link to the letter.

Amendment One goes to the vote today in North Carolina, and would ban not only same sex marriage, but any form of civil union or domestic partnership, including common-law marriage.



Interestingly, Public Policy Polling results suggest that 55% of people will vote for Amendment One, but 52% support civil unions. Dr Barber is right - too many of the people who will be voting on this amendment haven't really read and understood what they are voting on. The media focus on making it exclusively about 'gay marriage' may have won the day for bigots.

Marriage Equality is Coming to Washington State

A State Senator who is herself a traditional Christian has declared her support for Washington's Marriage Equality Bill, and it now has enough guaranteed backers to pass. I love her statement declaring her position, which is quoted in full at the link above.

I know this announcement makes me the so-called 25th vote, the vote that ensures passage. That's neither here nor there. If I were the first or the seventh or the 28th vote, my position would not be any different. I happen to be the 25th because I insisted on taking this much time to hear from my constituents and to sort it out for myself, to reconcile my religious beliefs with my beliefs as an American, as a legislator, and as a wife and mother who cannot deny to others the joys and benefits I enjoy.

Every legislator who opposes gay marriage because of a knee-jerk 'Christian' reaction should read her statement, and maybe it will make them think.

Say Yes to Gay YA! Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith share their story of a publisher who would only accept their novel if they made the gay character straight or removed him entirely. Thanks to lady_ganesh for the heads up.

Lyrics not safe for work, if you work in that kind of place.

A US District Court judge has halted enforcement of Don't Ask Don't Tell because the policy is unconstitutional. This is the result of a lawsuit brought by a pro-gay Republican group. There is hope for the US yet.

Wouldn't it be nice if the Department of Justice decided not to appeal?