Prop 8 my homework!

(see what I did there?  Anyway…)

So, yesterday, in what will certainly be a court case for the ages, California Federal District Court Judge Vaughn Walker (appointed by Ronald Reagan, by the way) shot down Prop 8 as being unconstitutional.  For those of you who don’t pay attention to California politics, Prop 8 was the ballot initiative in 2008 that banned the state of California from issuing any more same sex marriage licenses.  Judge Vaughn overturned the law the grounds that it violated due process and equal treatment guaranteed by the 14th amendment.  In the verdict of the case, he said that the defendants (i.e. the state of California) failed to produce any evidence that backed up the claims that same sex marriages hurt heterosexual marriages in any way, nor was there any evidence that same sex couples were unfit parents.  He summed up the ruling by affirming that prop 8 was based on a moral point of view that held same sex marriages as inferior to heterosexual marriages, and that moral opinions were not a basis for any kind of law.  I could sum it up even more, but I have a better idea:

Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to
deny rights to gay men and lesbians.  The evidence shows
conclusively that Proposition 8 enacts, without reason, a private
moral view that same-sex couples are inferior to opposite-sex
couples.  FF 76, 79-80; Romer, 517 US at 634 (“[L]aws of the kind
now before us raise the inevitable inference that the disadvantage
imposed is born of animosity toward the class of persons
affected.”).  Because Proposition 8 disadvantages gays and lesbians
without any rational justification, Proposition 8 violates the
Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

CONCLUSION

Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in
singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license.
Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than
enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-
sex couples are superior to same-sex couples.  Because California
has no interest in discriminating against gay men and lesbians, and
because Proposition 8 prevents California from fulfilling its
constitutional obligation to provide marriages on an equal basis,
the court concludes that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. 

You can check out the full PDF case briefing here.  Personally, I think is one of the best things to come out of the judiciary system in ages.  I’m hoping that this will be the domino to fall and start the chain reaction to legalize same sex marriages across the country.  I fear that my gay friends here in Alabama may have another couple decades to wait until it’s their turn, but at least this is movement in the right direction.

I’m glad to see legislation like this coming down the pipe.  Many analysts predict that in 20 years, same sex marriage will be legal across the country (well, except here in Alabama, of course).  Now that the ball is rolling, there are a few other laws I would like to see changed across the country.  For example, Pot.  Legalize that shit, and tax the hell out of it!  People are going to smoke it either way, the only question is who gets the profits… drug runners, or the US Government and Phillip Morris?  As much as I like to dish on the corporate fat-cats who are ruining America, I would rather see all that pot money go to US companies over Mexican drug lords.  Plus, legalizing it will free up a lot of police and judiciary resources to focus on real dangerous crime.  But that’s another rant for another time…

Crash