Justice Delayed is Justice Denied

[ras_elased]

So, with the Prop 8 Trial that I've been following the last few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about what rides on this trial, and where I stand on the issue of whether or not this trial is a good idea

Comments

[ariadne83]

Bold social change requires bold action. No one should have to be told to be patient when waiting for basic human rights. They've waited their entire lives already.

YES. THIS. A thousand times, this.

[ras_elased]

Thank you! Glad to know others out there share my opinion.

[grey_bard]

I'm in my 20's and this *still* seems miraculous to me. When I first figured out I was gay as a teenager, we were nowhere near this. I honestly thought gay marriage called *marriage* wouldn't happen anywhere in this country until I was an old woman.

Sure, there may be backlash and losses. But frankly, I think they would happen *any* time we started to fight for this in earnest. There is no magical "right time". It is a myth. Better to get the backlash and nasty fights out of the way now! I'm thrilled that we've come as far as we have so quickly - I'm more than willing to take the lumps that come with fighting the fight. It sure as hell beats "maybe when I'm a grandmother", hands down.

[ras_elased]

I agree. I don't think there's a "right time" either. I know that I, personally, would hate to meet the person I want to spend my life with and be told "maybe in 70 years, when we've gotten a few more states on our side." And when there is any great social upset there is bound to be unrest, whether it's now or later. We still haven't achieved full equality for women and racial minorities, so it's bound to be a long haul for G&L equality, but it's a fight people are already fighting and making progress in. Just look at how far we've gotten so far! :)

[woldy]

I'm not sure those reasons for saying 'Wait' are comparable. It's one thing having your adversaries object that it's too soon because they don't actually to deal with equality claims, and quite another for people on your side to argue that you've picked a time when you're almost certain to lose & that will ultimately delay success. The concerns about the current composition of the US Supreme Court seem pretty darned legitimate to me.

Speaking of which I find it very hard to take this Marriage equality may be the last great hurdle to social justice seriously given the massive, racist criminal justice system in the US, and the extent of poverty and social problems on aboriginal reserves. If marriage equality looks like the 'last great hurdle' then maybe it's because your POV is white and middle class?

[ras_elased]

I didn't mean to offend or imply that there aren't any other problems in the world. I know the world is far from perfect and will never be a utopian society free of injustices worth fighting for. Even women, who earned the right to vote almost a century ago, are not truly equal in their rights and privileges. I don't believe any minority is truly equal in practice, but marriage is, as far as I am familiar, the last basic civil liberty denied to a targeted subset of the population. And even once that hurdle is achieved, there will still be many smaller ones to surpass

[wordsdiminish]

I wanted to point out something that my brother and I were discussing earlier this evening: the SCOTUS may be currently leaning conservative at the moment, but Kennedy is much more of a question mark on this topic -- IMHO -- than seems to be being widely discussed. In fact, it's likely that it might come down to him.

There's two things that people have to remember about Kennedy. One, he is a public policy conservative, but he is much more libertarian when it comes to social policy. And two, the fact that he penned the majority case opinion for Lawrence v. Texas is pretty credible evidence that his vote on Perry v. Schwarzenegger is by far a forgone conclusion.

[ras_elased]

I didn't know about the Lawrence case! I knew he also penned the majority opinion in Romer v. Evans. I actually discussed that in my commentary on Day 7 of the trial (way, WAY down at the bottom) so that's even more evidence that he's "up for grabs" so to speak. Thanks for the tip!

[dajaje]

I'm sure MLK had his share of contemporaries telling him to wait as well. I don't think muddying the water with all the sociological woes of this country -- and there are MANY -- negates the fact that there is a fairly large group of people being denied equal protection under the law.

I have always said gay rights must be decided in a court of law because anything dealing with civil rights is too important to leave to the voters. If we had allowed state by state decisions for civil rights for African Americans in the 60s I have no doubt there would be some places that still have white only establishments.

[ras_elased]

I agree. I think that was Olsen and Boies thinking in taking this case, as well. The courts have a well documented history of being the instrument of minority rights, so I think this is the right path to take. I totally agree that there would still be states with segregation. Hell, if we put it to a vote now, I bet a LOT of states would go back to "separate but equal," sadly.