There's this thing that happens to me sometimes. Something I care about becomes so overwhelming that it starts leaching into every thought and every other conversation. It wakes me up at night, and it keeps me up—I lie in bed replaying conversations (Why didn't I say that? How did I miss that terrible logic?)—and partly just to get some friggin sleep, I end up shutting down for a bit.
During this last bit, something pretty huge happened: California's proposition 8, which revoked the right of people who are gay to get married, was ruled unconstitutional by Judge Walker. He put a stay on that (i.e., "Let's wait a little bit before putting it into effect.") Then he took it away. Then someone else put it back. This gives the chance for that decision to get appealed. I don't know tons of details because of that shut-down I mentioned. If you want lots of details given by my side of the issue, go to prop8trialtracker.com. If you want details given by the other side, go to prop8case.com.
Just this past weekend, I got into what I perceived as a rather heated argument with my granddaddy about Judge Walker's decision. This is a remarkable event as I'd venture to guess that Granddaddy has had about two heated arguments in his whole life. He's pretty calm and cool. I'm not though.
Anyhow, it seems a lot of people who are conservative think the voters of California were pretty put out by this. The voters, and the democratic process in general, actually. After all, if what the voters want can be "ruled unconstitutional", what kind of democracy is that?
A fair question.
My answer: Since when can voters decide to revoke civil rights? What would have happened if white people could have voted on whether black people could vote? We don't ask our child if she'd like to invite that dorky kid to the party; we make her invite him.
And this is where Granddaddy and I diverged. Sin is not a civil right. Voting against gay marriage is akin to voting against murder. Or vandalism or car theft or female genital mutilation or having to check blow-out preventers. It's not a right. It's just wrong.
So I am freshly stirred up about all this. I'll begin posting about all the reasons my 17-year-old self used to give against being gay and gay marriage, and why I no longer believe those reasons. I'll start—naturally—at Genesis 1.
Hey Margaret. I definitely understand the burnout you have experienced. Even those of us who are directly affected can feel the same. Soon after the passage of prop 8 a person was at my (gay friendly) church trying to recruit people to go to a march in Washington DC for marriage equality. A dear friend of mine, who is a lesbian, slumped her shoulders and said, "I am so exhausted. It's time for the other states to fight for awhile."
ReplyDeleteIt seems that the democracy/will of the people argument is going to be the go-to rhetoric for the yes on 8 side. And it probably is their strongest argument. But with all due respect to your grandfather, I think the progression of your conversation with him is telling. It isn't ultimately about a civic or political issue regarding the authority of public referendums vs. judicial rulings. It boils down to a deeply held belief regarding the morality of homosexuality. While he is free to hold that opinion, it doesn't hold water as a legal and civil matter. Going back at least to 1948, when the state first allowed interracial marriage, the right "to marry a person of one's own choosing" has been considered an inalienable constitutional right, foundational to the whole "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness" thing. So, while we could debate the biblical and ethical issues, the legal question is, in my opinion, pretty undeniable.
the ...federal government and the judiciary are legitimate parts of the legislative process, and have constitutionally mandated roles in our public life. Yes, popular democracy is the standard and norm for deciding issues, but majority rule has always been checked by and weighed against the inalienable rights of all citizens, even of those citizens who are in the minority. The federal government imposed itself upon states in order to enforce emancipation. In the same way, women's suffrage, ending segregation, ending Jim Crow, and permitting interracial marriage all would have failed miserably if they had been to a popular vote in the affected states. The basic civil rights of minorities are guaranteed, and not subject to majority rule. And it is appropriate both constitutionally and morally for the federal government and the judiciary to protect them.
But more fundamentally, I get irked when I hear prop 8 supporters wax eloquent about democracy the will of the people. An informed, rational public is the basis of a functioning democracy. The public must know what it is voting on in order to vote well. And the Yes on 8 campaign intentionally and maliciously compromised the public's understanding of the issues and what it was voting on with a massive campaign of disinformation, as was proved in the trial (read the transcript for more). NOM mailed campaign literature claiming that the heterosexual divorce rate in MA jumped by over 200% when gay marriage became legal there, and that homosexuals are 10x more likely to molest children than heterosexuals (neither of those things is remotely true, for the record). And of course, there was the whole red herring about school curriculum. As someone living in CA, I can tell you that if you didn't know better you would have thought Prop 8 was directly about the schools, and not about who can be married. It is deeply disingenuous and hypocritical for people who willfully misled the public and compromised their ability to engage the democratic process in good faith to turn around make populist arguments about enacting the will of the people.
Yeah, Tucker, you're totally right. In fact, the first thing I really said to Granddaddy about prop 8 was how the voters had been lied to. Which didn't really get us anywhere. But yes, I agree that the most patriotic people in America ought to recognize that the day this all changes, America will have been made more American. Which I believe someone on the witness stand for prop 8 actually articulated.
ReplyDeleteGood info Tucker!
ReplyDeleteNice to see the post Margaret...it's definitely easy to burn out on issues...