Tuesday, May 26, 2009

And the Fight Rages On

The California Supreme Court validated Proposition 8 today. That does not mean that they agree with the content, only that the process was valid. However, the idea that voters get to decide everything without regard to rights or equality makes me wonder what would happen if someone proposed reinstating slavery and having a majority build it into the constitution. Would slavery then become law because a majority of bigots said it should? I doubt that such a proposal would ever pass in this day and age, but if it did, the court would be bound to uphold it. So -- let's reinstate slavery, let's take away the right of women to vote, and let's see what else we can cram through a gullible electorate to turn this country back a few hundred years. OR -- we can wake up and realize, as many states have done, that just because a majority of people don't approve of same sex marriage, freedom from slavery, or the full inclusion of both genders in the voting process doesn't give anyone the right to legislate such bigotry. I am not going to criticize the Cal. Supreme Court for this ruling -- they are bound by law. However, I say SHAME on the voters of California! I think that all the GLBT people in California need to move to Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, or Maine and watch California's already teetering economy fall flat on its face. The decision today is a setback, but folks -- same sex marriage is here to stay. Eventually these inane constitutional bans will fall one by one like dominoes and we will be included as full members of society. Until that day, stand firm and speak out for JUSTICE for all.

2 comments:

Ur-spo said...

I remember a great uncle proposing just this; let us have a majority vote about whether or not to stop segregation. Even then I smelled a rat.

I hope this is merely a lost battle that paradoxically gets people more active towards action.

Lemuel said...

We have come far from one of the principles of those infamous "founding fathers" - that in a democracy, though ruled by the majority, the rights of the minority must be protected.