Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution? - Groucho Marx
You know, I can remember a time when a rainbow was the symbol of God's promise to Noah that He would never again destroy the World due to Man's wickedness by means of a flood.
Now it seems to be a symbol that whoever owns this car/tee-shirt/lunchbox is a homosexual, and everyone else has to be notified.
I also can remember when you could say that someone was a "gay old fella" without alluding to the probability that he didn't really understand basic biology.
But over the last couple of decades, we have re-defined the word "gay", capitalized it, made a noun out of it, and created a whole new subject that everyone is now required to explain to their children, and usually way sooner than they would like to.
And then there's this...
Marriage: The social institution under which a man and woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc...
Has now become: A relationship in which two people have pledged themselves to each other in the manner of a husband and wife, without legal sanction (for now): trial marriage; homosexual marriage.
But the people of California (of all places) voted to put the brakes on the redefinition of a word which has meant the same thing since the dawn of Human Society.
From the San Francisco Gate...
California voters legally outlawed same-sex marriage when they approved Proposition 8 in November, but the constitutional amendment did not dissolve the unions of 18,000 gay and lesbian couples who wed before the measure took effect, the state Supreme Court ruled today.
Prop. 8 undid that ruling by reinstating the definition of marriage that the court had struck down, this time as an amendment to the state Constitution. The author of last year's 4-3 decision, Chief Justice Ronald George, said today that the voters were within their rights to do so...
In dissent, Justice Carlos Moreno, who joined the majority in last year's decision, said today's ruling accepted the separate-but-equal treatment for gays and lesbians that the 2008 ruling rejected."Granting same-sex couples all of the rights enjoyed by opposite-sex couples, except the right to call their officially recognized and protected family relationship a marriage, still denies them equal treatment," Moreno said.
Actually, it doesn't, because, unless I've missed something here, a gay man has exactly the same right to marry any woman he wants as a straight man does.
If the gay person chooses not to marry someone of the opposite sex, and instead chooses an alternate lifestyle with alternate rules and alternate benefits and alternate challenges, then that is their choice.
In California, anyway.
For better or for worse, the people of California have spoken. The losers - I mean, the minority opinion raised their challenge, and the Court, for once, declined this particular opportunity to play an activist role, and instead just did their job, which was, to determine whether or not the people had made their statement through proper and legal channels.
Which they did.
So, for now, the word "Marriage" still means what it has always meant.
Just like the words "Democracy", and "Freedom".
At least where this issue is concerned.
At least in California.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
6 comments:
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Indeed it is strange that this should come out of California. But then, they've also come out against more taxes. Maybe California is already like Europe, in that both are beginning to reject leftist ideologies, recognizing the dangers therein. We can only hope, even if we don't hold our breath.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, I'm glad to see that California has had it's will upheld. What I don't get is those 18,000. From what I saw, the amendment says that only traditional marriages will be recognized (not an exact wording). Does this mean that a company doesn't have to recognize any of these 18,000 couples should one of them seek employment? Allowing the 18,000 to stand will cause problems I think.
"Maybe California is already like Europe, in that both are beginning to reject leftist ideologies..."Europe may be beginning to see the error of some of their socialist policies, but they are not rejecting anything substantial at present. As for California, they are at a tipping point- at least, the voters are.
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, Californians are Americans too, and as Americans they can't like what their politicians have done to the state.
You guys aren't talking about Californians.
ReplyDeleteYou're talking about Mormon money bags from Utah.
Neil wouldn't like his children in bed with Mormons, now, so you better watch it.
Money can't register to vote, nor can it pull a lever in a voting booth. 98% of blacks nationwide voted for Obama last fall, and on that same ballot in California, more than 70% of blacks voted to ban gay marriage.
ReplyDeleteMormons may have spent lots of money in California, but so what? Obama spent hundreds of millions of dollars to get elected, but not a one of those dollars spent actually checked a ballot for Obama.
Consider also how liberal the state of California is, and yet despite what a reeking moral cesspit that state is, it still couldn't garner enough votes to make gay marriage legal?
No. It wasn't Mormons. It was Californians. None of those fat-cat money-bags in Utah voted in California... unless ACORN illegally registered them.
I wouldn't put your trust in Californians, EL. Prop 8 will soon be dead under constitutional review of "equal protection."
ReplyDeleteThat's why the California Supreme Court left contradictory circumstances in place: some were legally allowed to marry while the rest are not. They want a Constitutional review on equal protection because Prop 8 will be struck down.
And a new proposition effort will be met with gay an lesbian evangelist going door to door to introduce themselves faster than Jehovah's Witnesses.
Many Californians are just beginning to meet their gay community and black folks don't take to intrusions by whites with a racist past like Mormons.
It's just a matter of time.
Yeah, I wondered if the plan here was to punt the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court by leaving a loose end with the 18,000 couples.
ReplyDeleteIf that is the case, and the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Prop 8, then that will set National Precedent, effectively legalizing Same-Sex Marriage across the U.S., not just in California.
The same side-door method of legalization that was used in Roe v. Wade.
And if that happens, there will never be public agreement about the issue, nor will there ever be peace about it.
That is not the way things are supposed to be done in the United states...