Video clip of Rachel Maddow interviewing Boies & Olson on the Proposition 8 decision and how they proved 3 things in their court case:
- Marriage is a fundamental right
- Depriving gays and lesbians of marriage rights harms them and their children
- Depriving gays & lesbians of the right to marriage does not help heterosexuals at all
The people of CA voted on this and they decided. Not some judge. We the people. Remember…what our country was founded on? I am not saying that I am for or against gay marriage, but I do take issue with a judge overturning a prop that was voted on by the public.
But aren’t the courts supposed to be the ultimate arbiters of whether laws/ballot initiatives that are passed are Constitutional?
I hear ya Zach. Was in one judge or an entire court?
At the trial court level, it’s always 1 judge. On appeal you have multiple either 3 or 9 at the 9th circuit depending on the request. I would imagine in this case it will certainly be 9.
Votes are not meant to arbitrarily subjugate a minority.
Do you think interracial couples should be allowed to marry? Did you know the SAME exact arguments for the most part were made in that case as this one by the anti-freedom crowd? Do you think because it didn’t have popular support that interracial marriage should be illegal?
The fact is this only affects the people who have been granted their freedom and equality, and those who oppose it have a disturbing fascination with stomping on the rights of others. Simple majority votes should not be used to deny the equalities and rights of others.
Let freedom ring! Freedom does not mean a majority subjugating a minority. The same tired arguments that priests or those that “morally” object to same sex couples even existing being forced to marry them is complete and utter baloney too. They aren’t forced to marry interracial couples and some of the more bigoted priests/religious figures don’t. That’s their freedom, as it still is with marriage equality.
The vast majority of the anti-freedom movement’s opinion is rooted on mass generalizations, outright fabrications, and a fundamental perversion of the word “freedom” to make it include the freedom to force everyone else to live as you want them to.