Laws on Paper are Meaningless in Flames
A lot of laws written on paper don't always work out so well in real life. A lot of issues that in theory sound nice don't pan out in the real world.
Issues over gay marriage are among them.
Just today I had a talk with a man who mentioned that while he doesn't care either way about gay marriage, he voted for California's Proposition 8, the prop to turn over a California Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage. Why? Not because he had any issues on gay marriage, but because he believed it shouldn't be a court issue, but a legislative issue.
To be honest, I agree on that last element, in that it shouldn't be a court issue...but it is. One of the purposes of the judicial system is to protect minorities against the 'excesses of democracy', or mob rule. Just because the majority of the people don't like a minority group does not change the fact the minority group has rights.
If the judicial ruling had stuck, it would have been legislating from the bench, and the legal equivalent of putting a sticky note on the constitution - legislative action, once completed, would've been putting white-out over it and rewriting it.
Ideally we could go with the white-out method, and insure that the ruling in favor of gay marriage is pervasive and permanent. I would love for that to happen.
Not to mention all the complicated factors involved. What about priests and other religious figures, how do they factor in? For all that we trumpet the separation of church and state, marriage is the one area where they have remained stubbornly united, and legislative action could be the first step to cutting off the one last knot keeping apart two institutions that shouldn't be together in the first place.
The problem is that it takes time. Years and years time. And in the mean time, there are tons of couples who are losing out on crucial, and often life-saving, benefits. And while some will argue that these benefits can be achieved in other ways, I need to point out in the U.S. marriage comes with literally over a thousand legal benefits, all of which are taken care of with the single piece of paper of a marriage license. Why is it gay couples are expected to go through 1,100+ legal procedures where a straight couples needs only go through 1?
And it's not just a matter of paperwork, either.
Recently, a man named James Anderson was murdered in a racist attack. Go to that article and scroll down to the bottom, and you'll see this:
James Bradfield, Mr. Anderson’s partner of 17 years, is not a plaintiff. Under Mississippi law, same-sex partners have no claim in civil actions like this, Mr. Dees said.
That's right, the man's husband in all but law will not be allowed to file suit against the people who murdered his lifelong partner.
People can waffle about on legal ramifications and how the paperwork will look, but one need only look at how hospitals often treat same-sex couples to see that there are more serious issues at hand.
Every day gay marriage is still not legal is a day that a man or woman cannot visit their dying spouses beside. Every day gay marriage is not legal is a day that a child is torn apart from their family due to lack of protective laws. Every day that gay marriage is not legal is a day that a person loses property and survivor benefits that is rightfully theirs upon their upon their spouse's death.
Every day gay marriage isn't legal is a day that a family gets discriminated against, torn apart, and told that they are less than everyone else and treated as such...all because some people don't feel comfortable about it.
I would love for gay marriage to be resolved through legislation instead of court action, and I would love for so many other issues around marriage in general to be resolved once and for all.
But I don't believe in sacrificing the very people we are trying to protect to do it.
Issues over gay marriage are among them.
Just today I had a talk with a man who mentioned that while he doesn't care either way about gay marriage, he voted for California's Proposition 8, the prop to turn over a California Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage. Why? Not because he had any issues on gay marriage, but because he believed it shouldn't be a court issue, but a legislative issue.
To be honest, I agree on that last element, in that it shouldn't be a court issue...but it is. One of the purposes of the judicial system is to protect minorities against the 'excesses of democracy', or mob rule. Just because the majority of the people don't like a minority group does not change the fact the minority group has rights.
If the judicial ruling had stuck, it would have been legislating from the bench, and the legal equivalent of putting a sticky note on the constitution - legislative action, once completed, would've been putting white-out over it and rewriting it.
Ideally we could go with the white-out method, and insure that the ruling in favor of gay marriage is pervasive and permanent. I would love for that to happen.
Not to mention all the complicated factors involved. What about priests and other religious figures, how do they factor in? For all that we trumpet the separation of church and state, marriage is the one area where they have remained stubbornly united, and legislative action could be the first step to cutting off the one last knot keeping apart two institutions that shouldn't be together in the first place.
The problem is that it takes time. Years and years time. And in the mean time, there are tons of couples who are losing out on crucial, and often life-saving, benefits. And while some will argue that these benefits can be achieved in other ways, I need to point out in the U.S. marriage comes with literally over a thousand legal benefits, all of which are taken care of with the single piece of paper of a marriage license. Why is it gay couples are expected to go through 1,100+ legal procedures where a straight couples needs only go through 1?
And it's not just a matter of paperwork, either.
Recently, a man named James Anderson was murdered in a racist attack. Go to that article and scroll down to the bottom, and you'll see this:
James Bradfield, Mr. Anderson’s partner of 17 years, is not a plaintiff. Under Mississippi law, same-sex partners have no claim in civil actions like this, Mr. Dees said.
That's right, the man's husband in all but law will not be allowed to file suit against the people who murdered his lifelong partner.
People can waffle about on legal ramifications and how the paperwork will look, but one need only look at how hospitals often treat same-sex couples to see that there are more serious issues at hand.
Every day gay marriage is still not legal is a day that a man or woman cannot visit their dying spouses beside. Every day gay marriage is not legal is a day that a child is torn apart from their family due to lack of protective laws. Every day that gay marriage is not legal is a day that a person loses property and survivor benefits that is rightfully theirs upon their upon their spouse's death.
Every day gay marriage isn't legal is a day that a family gets discriminated against, torn apart, and told that they are less than everyone else and treated as such...all because some people don't feel comfortable about it.
I would love for gay marriage to be resolved through legislation instead of court action, and I would love for so many other issues around marriage in general to be resolved once and for all.
But I don't believe in sacrificing the very people we are trying to protect to do it.