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njlauren -> RE: Marriage Equality Hits the Double Digits (5/14/2013 7:28:49 PM)
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Eventually it is going to hit critical mass and the courts are going to have to decide, very similarly to when Loving was handed down in 1967, throwing out interracial marriage bans. The march will go on, California will likely have prop 8 thrown out, and I think the legislature there will pass same sex marriage, and it is unlikely the asshole Mormons and the Knights of Columbus won't be able to do what they did getting that passed, even black are finally starting to realize the hypocrisy of their anti gay position when it comes to civil rights.
However, I don't think the hookworm belt is ever going to legislate it, just can't see the locoweed state (i.e Texas) ever passing anything like that (this is the state that made gay sex in the privacy of your home a crime and in the same law, made it legal to have sex with farm animals, as long as they were your property)....on the other hand, once more and more states pass same sex marriage, it is going to be a legal nightmare. I suspect the Supreme Court is going to be forced to rule that the full faith clause of the constitution has to apply here, that states cannot refuse to recognize marriages done in other states and congress giving states permission to do so violates the equal protection clause......because it will be a nightmare. Today, if a same sex couple gets married in NY state and has a kid (let's say in vitro fertilization), and the birth mother dies, if relatives live in a state that doesn't recognize same sex marriage, they could go into court and get custody of the kid for being genetic kin, arguing that the marriage is invalid (if that was a straight couple, they could not do that, the spouse would automatically be considered the kids parent, period).....and states with same sex marriage could retaliate and refuse to recognize marriages of the states that refused to recognize their same sex marriages, it would be a nightmare. Even many conservatives, at least the non tea party idiot types. are recognizing this as a civil rights matter and the religious arguments are irrelevant, that marriage is a legal right, has been since the state started granting rights to the term, and are coming around. It seems kind of idiotic to talk about defending families and marriage by denying it to people who want to get married; likewise, it was jarring to hear the anti gay rhetoric of black churches, arguing this would destroy marriage when there are so many ills with marriage in the straight community, and specifically within their own community, might be better spending energy promoting marriage and family stability for all, rather than denying it to some.
The other factor is age, even in the bible belt most young people don't care, and in the 40 and under age group something like 80% of people are in favor of same sex marriage, favoring a 20% minority as conservatives have been doing is political suicide, because this is the next generation of voters, older people may come out by the busload to vote in anti gay marriage laws, but they are dying out. I saw a poll not long ago that asked young people why they don't identify with the GOP, and one of the top reasons was their stance on social issues, especially same sex marriage, they were tired of the religious right and social issues being this big deal, it isn't to them.
In NJ all we have to hope for is that Chris Christie somehow gets dislodged from office (if they can get him out the door), and we will have it, though it is likely that the NJ Supreme Court will act, there are cases wending their way to the court arguing that the civic unions NJ has do not grant the same rights as marriage, which is obvious, since even with DOMA out of the way, there are no federal benefits to civic unions, among other things. Christie has threatened to try and impeach judges who vote to legalize it, but I think he will find he may make the Catholic Church and the religious droolers happy, but will piss off a lot more people. How someone could be a federal prosecutor and not understand the constitution I'll never know, Christie claims that the 14th amendment doesn't apply, because it was meant only towards blacks *gag*
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