Prop 8 Victory!
So I’ve held off on writing about the ruling by Judge Vaughn Walker in California that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. Of course I was excited, no THRILLED that it was struck down, but I wanted to wait to see how the religious right would respond.
The Absurdity of Proposition 8 (to begin with)
2008 was a year of great victory for progressivism in America. We elected Barack Obama – our first non-white President – something unprecedented in American history. But on the same night – in California – arguably the most liberal state in the Union, citizens passed a law that amended the California constitution to make gay marriage illegal. The Yes on 8 campaign was filled with lies and scare tactics to entice the ignorant-majority to vote in opposition to Prop 8. I even heard of people so confused by what Yes and No actually meant in regard to the proposition, that they voted opposite of how they intended to.
As Rachel Maddow so eloquently said this week on her show, when you put minority rights up to vote by the majority, the majority will subjugate the minority 100% of the time. 31 out of 31 states that put gay marriage up to a vote, voted against it. Rights should not be put up for vote, they should not be a matter of public opinion, even if many MANY people think they should be. Rights exist to protect people – if we didn’t NEED protecting there would be no need for laws. For example, look at universal suffrage for minorities and women as well as the civil rights battle in the 50s and 60s for minorities and women. Previously, they had a similar position in society as LGBTQ Americans and it took the government intervening to give them rights. Clearly the same was true in the case of Prop 8.
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The Overturn of the Discriminatory Law
Judge Vaughn Walker in California overturned Proposition 8 on Wednesday, August 4th 2010. An appointee of George Bush Senior (AKA Daddy Bush), Walker is assumed to be a conservative-leaning judge. Among other things, Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that “Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples.” He also believes (and I agree with him) that “Denying marriage to gay people does not make heterosexual marriages stronger; it does not protect children; it does not have any ‘rational reason’ at all”. He further went on to say that it violates the 14th Amendment of the Constitution on the basis of not providing equal protection.
Taken from Change.org:
“Excluding same-sex couples from marriage is simply not rationally related to legitimate state interest,” asserted Walker in his decision yesterday. And, in a direct strike to social conservative arguments on the “sanctity of marriage,” Walker ruled, “tradition alone, however, cannot form a rational basis for a law.” The old paradigm of rationalized, “reasonable” sexual norms was thus struck down, replaced by a new order, for now, that emphasized our historic “rationales” flaws.
To bolster his point, Walker contended, “The evidence shows that the tradition of restricting an individual’s choice of spouse based on gender does not rationally further a state interest despite its ‘ancient lineage.” Times have changed, he’s saying, and American law needs to keep up.
There’s no way Walker’s decision won’t be debated and discussed for years, perhaps even generations, to come. He totally reoriented previously entrenched ideas about “rational” sexuality and gender identities and placed them in a new context, a more relevant context.
Walker’s Proposition 8 reading totally revolutionized the nation’s idea of “rational reason,” and now there’s no turning back. Not that a reasonable nation would want to in the first place, right?
The Aftermath of Justice
Not unusual for the religious right, all was quiet on the bible belt front. They were so shocked that, for once, that they were silent. At least for a day. Now people on the religious right are calling for the impeachment of Judge Vaughn Walker. On what grounds, I’m not sure. I’m sure something along the lines of denying religious liberty – however, what they really mean is not passing laws derived from the chaos and brutality of the Old Testament.
According to the American Family Association, anything but an organization dedicated to preservingfamily, Judge Vaughn Walker should be impeached because:
(Taken from The Examiner)
- Walker’s decision overturning Prop 8 “frustrated the express will of seven million Californians who went to the polls to shape their state’s public policy on marriage;”
- “Judge Walker is an open homosexual, and should have recused himself from this case due to his obvious conflict of interest. “
- “Federal judges hold office only ‘during good Behaviour,’ and …Judge Walker’s ruling is not ‘good Behaviour.’”
While 6.8 million Californians voted for the Prop 8 gay marriage ban in 2008, more than 6.2 million voted against Prop 8. Moreover, the issue before Judge Walker was whether Prop 8 violated the U.S. Constitution, specifically, the 14th Amendment’s guarantees against deprivation “of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” and of “equal protection of the laws.” As Judge Walker pointed out in his ruling, these Constitutional protections for minorities of all types are not subject to the whims of a majority of voters.
Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution provides for the impeachment of “civil officers of the United States” (including federal judges) for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Judge Walker did not do anything illegal or even unethical. He will not be impeached. Stop wasting time and costing the tax payers money in order to force religion on Americans.
As usual the religious-right is just a bunch of idiotic buffoons who are unable to come to terms that society has changed since the Middle Ages. It’s time to move on. The rest of society, including many moderate Christians, have already moved on. It’s time for the far right to do so as well.
I’m sorry if conservatives disagree with gay marriage. In the 1940s, the majority denied the minority (blacks and women) rights. They disagreed that they were deserving of civil rights. In that case as well as this, the government had to step in. Now civil rights for women and minorities are just a fact of life.
I’m sorry if conservatives hold deep religious conviction that homosexuality is deviant behavior. But that’s just too damn bad. Church and State are separate in the United States. If they’d prefer a theocracy, they should move to Iran. Enough said.
Awesome parody video from The Onion -
New Law Would Ban Marriages Between People Who Don’t Love Each Other
I would love to know your thoughts on this.
Edit 19:20 August 6, 2010:
After posting my article I found an awesome article concerning Arnold Schwarzenegger and how he is an LGBT hero. Even the Republican governor of California supports marriage equality. You’d think, being Republican of all unpleasant things, he could be adamantly opposed to marriage equality. However, he praised the decision by Judge Vaughn Walker! And he’s not even up for re-election this year; it was genuine. Schwarzenegger pleaded that gays be allowed to marry immediately, opposing the stay requested by the far-right nutcases. You go Arnie! I love you and I’m proud to be a Californian and an American today!