Late but good news anyway ;)

[slamlander]

I could have sworn that I had already commented on this but it appears that I haven’t.

First, the California Proposition that tried to ban gay marriages (the infamous Proposition 8)  has been found unconstitutional. 1

Then the Pro8 folks tried to overturn that ruling based on the fact that the Judge was openly gay.

Finally, the US District Court

Comments

[desertrat66]

Because Billy Graham says so. ;-P

There ya go kept gods out of it.

As of June 1st Civil Unions are legal in Illinois. Not perfect, but it's something at least.

[ixeian]

Judge Vaughn Walker is fantastic. I read all the way through his decision when it came down and it is a remarkable piece of legal writing. I believe this will be the case that goes all the way up to the SCOTUS and firmly knocks down discrimination in this matter. I know people are worried about the hard right facction there, but I don't think they can ensnare Kennedy on this one. And it may even be that one of the other 4 is slightly persuadable, or at least that's a rumour in Washington according to a guy I know who works here.

For another example of religious obnoxiousness regarding gay marriage, check out the situation in New York state. The legislature there is considering a gay marriage bill, it passed the House last week and now it's up to the Senate. Right now there's 31 votes for, all 29 Democrats and 2 Republicans, out of 62 members, so they need just 1 more Republican and it's a done deal. One of the 2 R's, Roy McDonald, switched from no to yes recently in the face of the harsh religious pressuring going on, and he did so

[desertrat66]

The amusing thing is I've been arguing (a largely futile effort I might add) for some time that the issue of gay marriage is a matter of black and white, right and wrong, and if Conservatives truly believe in what they say they do they should overwhelmingly support gay marriage.

[ixeian]

Yes, I remember, and I agree that you can make a good case for gay marriage from a philosophically Conservative point of view. The problem, as far as I can tell, is that current politics on the right is mostly far from conservative in that sense. One of the few who's been taking the same line as you here is Ted Olson who's the lead lawyer, along with his old adversary David Boies, on the case Judge Walker ruled on. Which should make things interesting when it gets to the SCOTUS.

I hope there's some in the New York State Senate who'll come to see things that way too.

[desertrat66]

As Slamlander points out the biggest objection is based on religious grounds and unfortunately politicians on the right are afraid to go against the religious in their constituency. Personally I have found that if you make the case properly all but the most bigoted will at least agree that gays should be given full civil rights even if it offends their personal moral sensibilities.

Another sign of encouragement is the reaction to an anti-gay bigot at the recent Conservative Political Action Convention. When he got up to the podium and began to bash the conference organizers for allowing GOProud to co-sponsor the event he was booed off the stage. (I'd post the video but it has been deleted from you tube)

It was a small victory and there was at least one other incident of gay-bashing during the convention, but it shows some are figuring it out.