In August 2010 when "Perry V. Schwarzenegger" was released I skimmed the court decision, got engrossed, and read the whole thing. It is a fascinating and remarkably sensible analysis of pros and cons. I started writing about it, got most of the way through, but never quite finished it up. I don't have time to get through the last few pages but I'm ( Read more... )

The LDS (Mormon) Church publishes a Handbook of Instructions, representing the current state of church policy and practices. The church only distributes the first book to certain leaders within the church - which is often frustrating to people who would like to know what all the rules are so that they can follow them. The last draft of the Handbook ( Read more... )

So far I've read up to page 68 of Perry v. Schwarzenegger. It's time for me to close the laptop and go to bed, but before I do I had to mention one overriding impression ( Read more... )

A while ago I found a transcript in the case of Perry v. Schwarzenegger, where the judges and laywers were attempting to answer a question that I've been asking for a very long time: How does permitting same-sex marriages impair or adversely affect [the state's] interest? At that time they "didn't have a presentation on that". Neither the ( Read more... )

During the run-up to the vote on Prop 8, some people said that the California law was being passed with strong support from Mormons. The LDS church disputed this, pointing out that the Utah-based church's campaign report filings showed they'd spent just $2078 in support of the California law ( Read more... )

A while ago ianvass told me that he'd explain why California Prop 8 was a good idea, not religiously, but from a secular standpoint. How Prop 8 would mitigate a public health or safety issue. I'm still waiting, with occlupanid's wager of a tiny amount of foreign currency still unpaid ( Read more... )

ianvass and I have a difference of opinion about civil rights for homosexuals. Specifically, Proposition 8 vs. legal recognition for same-sex couples. Short summary: I'm for equal legal recognition, he's against it. And we've been having a surprisingly civil discussion about it, all things considered. We've already discussed whether Prop 8 supporters ( Read more... )

So Prop 8 was upheld by the CA Supreme Court. I am not happy about this, and it is time to lay blame.

I don't fault the court for their 185 page decision, whether "Proposition 8, under the governing provisions of the California Constitution, constitutes a permissible change to the California Constitution", finding that "Proposition 8 constitutes a ( Read more... )

An anonymous poster is asking, perhaps rhetorically, why marriage is considered a civil right. And it's a good question. Why does the state get involved in this sacrament? The state doesn't recognize baptism, or circumcision, or first communion, or any other religious sacrament. Why does marriage get special legal attention?

In the context of ( Read more... )

A few years ago I was discussing Arizona's Proposition 107 with my godfather. He supported it for purely biological reasons: same-sex marriage is different than opposite-sex marriage because only an opposite-sex couple can have a child. In an earlier comment ianvass mentioned something similar:
I'm not saying sex is only for reproduction, only that gay ( Read more... )