Prop. 8 and other things
So the chief judge of the northern district of California ruled that Prop. 8 is unconstitutional on Wednesday. This is awesome news, of course, even though the battle won't be over, no matter which way things go in appeals, until the SCotUS has its say (and possibly not even then, depending on legal backlash). On Thursday all day at work CNN kept coming back to it, and the thing people (mostly the prop's proponents, but also some of the supposedly neutral broadcasters) kept talking about was "this goes against the will of the majority, activist judges, what about what the people want, blah blah blah." To which I can only say: idiots. In a democracy, this is precisely WHY we have courts for lawsuits like this: to protect the liberties of minorities from the tyranny of the majority.
I'm reading Walker's ruling now (comments on that later). As far as the future of the case... well, I see some places that could be problems. To play devil's advocate... If particularly conservative justices got nitpicky, the Equal Protection violation could be dismissed; heterosexual individuals DO have some restrictions on who they can marry, though this brings things uncomfortably close to comparing homosexuality to incest and pedophilia (not that that stops some people). Furthermore... if one looks at historical precedent, to draw parallels to the racial civil rights movement, when Loving v. Virginia (which challenged Virginia's anti-miscegenation law on similar grounds as Perry v. Schwarzenegger challenged Prop. 8) came down, only 17 states still had anti-miscegenation laws on the books. Compare that to the 40 states that now prohibit same-sex marriage in some way, and it's easy to see why some people have been leery about this going to the federal level. I'm afraid it might come down to "omg too soon" in the end.
On a completely unrelated note, I was reminded yesterday that muffins give pie a run for their money as most delicious baked good of all time. Though bread's pretty high up there too. As is cake. If I ever ended up having gluten intolerance of some sort I think I'd cry.
Voice acting. Disbelief was discovering that Sugiyama Noriaki -- who I'd previously only heard as Blue Oni types (warning: TVTropes) Sasuke (Naruto) and Ishida (Bleach) -- was Shirou in Fate/stay night. I was also surprised to learn that Fukuyama Jun's Lelouch, who he played so brilliantly, was not his typical sort of role at all -- though hearing his Watanuki with Ohara Sayaka (Milly)'s Yuuko in xxxHolic was all sorts of amusing. I don't think anything's ever topped the time I found out that silky smooth-voiced Morikawa Toshiyuki, who's done Sephiroth and all sorts of BL roles, was hyperactive dad Kurosaki Isshin (Bleach).
...I'm going to be late for work if I don't go now, ack.
I'm reading Walker's ruling now (comments on that later). As far as the future of the case... well, I see some places that could be problems. To play devil's advocate... If particularly conservative justices got nitpicky, the Equal Protection violation could be dismissed; heterosexual individuals DO have some restrictions on who they can marry, though this brings things uncomfortably close to comparing homosexuality to incest and pedophilia (not that that stops some people). Furthermore... if one looks at historical precedent, to draw parallels to the racial civil rights movement, when Loving v. Virginia (which challenged Virginia's anti-miscegenation law on similar grounds as Perry v. Schwarzenegger challenged Prop. 8) came down, only 17 states still had anti-miscegenation laws on the books. Compare that to the 40 states that now prohibit same-sex marriage in some way, and it's easy to see why some people have been leery about this going to the federal level. I'm afraid it might come down to "omg too soon" in the end.
On a completely unrelated note, I was reminded yesterday that muffins give pie a run for their money as most delicious baked good of all time. Though bread's pretty high up there too. As is cake. If I ever ended up having gluten intolerance of some sort I think I'd cry.
Voice acting. Disbelief was discovering that Sugiyama Noriaki -- who I'd previously only heard as Blue Oni types (warning: TVTropes) Sasuke (Naruto) and Ishida (Bleach) -- was Shirou in Fate/stay night. I was also surprised to learn that Fukuyama Jun's Lelouch, who he played so brilliantly, was not his typical sort of role at all -- though hearing his Watanuki with Ohara Sayaka (Milly)'s Yuuko in xxxHolic was all sorts of amusing. I don't think anything's ever topped the time I found out that silky smooth-voiced Morikawa Toshiyuki, who's done Sephiroth and all sorts of BL roles, was hyperactive dad Kurosaki Isshin (Bleach).
...I'm going to be late for work if I don't go now, ack.