[Vision2020] Cultmaster Douglas Wilson Gnashes His Teeth

[Art Deco]

  [image: The New York Times] <http://www.nytimes.com/>

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November 7, 2012
A Big Leap for Marriage Equality

Progress on civil rights can occur in bursts. The nation’s march toward
full equality for all took an important step forward on Election Day
with groundbreaking
victories for same-sex
marriage<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/us/same-sex-marriage-gains-cheer-gay-rights-advocates.html>across
the country.

Until Tuesday, no state had ever legalized same-sex marriage through a
ballot referendum. This cause has been rejected more than 30 times at the
ballot box, though six states and the District of Columbia have legalized
gay marriage through court rulings or legislative measures.

In a move that shows the shift in public opinion, voters in Maine and
Maryland approved measures giving gay and lesbian couples the freedom to
marry by decisive results. Early returns in Washington State also show that
voters there have passed a same-sex marriage initiative [now approved].
With these victories, opponents will no longer be able to argue that the
movement for marriage equality is something imposed by radical judges and
legislators, who are out of touch with the popular will.

In Minnesota, meanwhile, voters rejected a ballot measure that would have
enshrined the state’s existing ban on same-sex marriage in the State
Constitution. In Wisconsin, voters elected a Democratic House member, Tammy
Baldwin, to the United States Senate, making her the first openly gay
person ever elected to the chamber.

In Iowa, voters decided to retain a State Supreme Court justice, David
Wiggins, rejecting a
campaign<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/23/us/gay-marriage-ruling-fuels-iowa-vote-on-a-justice.html>by
the State Republican Party and other conservative forces to oust him
because of his participation in the court’s unanimous ruling in
2009<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/us/04iowa.html>allowing
same-sex-marriage on equal protection grounds.

Justice Wiggins’s retention, like Florida’s vote to retain three State
Supreme Court justices singled out by the State Republican Party and others
on the right, was a victory for judicial independence. It was also a
remarkable turnaround from two years ago, when three other Iowa justices
who joined in the 2009 ruling were defeated for
retention<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/us/politics/03judges.html>,
after groups opposing same-sex marriage campaigned against them.
Predictions that President Obama would be politically damaged by his
support for same-sex marriage did not come to pass. Instead, by standing up
for equality, he energized his base and retained the broad coalition that
won him a second term.

Even before these victories, the principle of fairness for gay people and
their families has been gaining force in courts and statehouses. Half of
Americans believe their states should recognize marriages of same-sex
couples.

There is still much work to do to secure the freedom to marry in every
jurisdiction and end the odious Defense of Marriage Act that bars federal
recognition of same-sex marriages performed in places where it is legal. It
is a moment for the opponents of civil rights for all Americans — including
Congressional Republicans, who are still defending the marriage act in
court — to decide whether they want to continue to stand against justice to
court a dwindling share of voters.


-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
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