Step by step we creep toward equality. (Why must we ask for permission?)
Today was a BIG day in California.
"In a major victory for gay rights activists, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday that a voter initiative banning same-sex marriage in California violated the Constitution's equal protection and due process rights clauses.
'Although Proposition 8 fails to possess even a rational basis, the evidence presented at trial shows that gays and lesbians are the type of minority strict scrutiny was designed to protect,' Walker ruled."
"Plaintiffs do not seek recognition of a new right. To characterize plaintiffs' objective as "the right to same-sex marriage" would suggest that plaintiffs seek something different from what opposite-sex couples across the state enjoy -- namely, marriage. Rather, plaintiffs ask California to recognize their relationships for what they are: marriages."
"Proposition 8 places the force of law behind stigmas against gays and lesbians, including: gays and lesbians do not have intimate relationships similar to heterosexual couples; gays and lesbians are not as good as heterosexuals; and gay and lesbian relationships do not deserve the full recognition of society."
That is to say: Prop 8 was bullshit and has now been deemed so under the law. Let's move on.
So we are happy - but did you catch it? The judge ruled that the opposition failed to "possess even a rational basis" behind their bullshit arguments. The arguments that keep us from being with our loved ones in the hospital, that stop us from being full parents to our children, that allow us to support each other through medical benefits at work, that allow our partners to stay in our rental properties after we DIE, that give our homophobic relatives the right to scavenge through everything if a partner dies. And on and on. Spare me.
Today is a good day. But why must we fight so?
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