The Connecticut Supreme Court yesterday ruled in favor of gays having
the right to marry, largely on the basis of the Connecticut
Constitution's equal protection clause, emphasizing (perhaps not quite
in so many words) that 'separate is NOTequal'.
Two courts, California and Connecticut, have now ruled based on their
equal protection clauses, similar in language to the equal protection
clause in the US Constitution.
(Massachusetts has an equal rights amendment, which says in in part
"Equality under the law shall not be denied or abridged because of
sex, race, color, creed or national origin."
which is not part of the the US Constitution, having been rejected as
an amendment in 1982)
Continue on to see what the big deal is.
Given this (with the usual caveats of not being a lawyer or
Constitutional scholar), it seems to me that the basis has been laid
for the US Supreme Court, some 15 to 20 years hence, to rule that it
is unconstitutional to prohibit any two people from becoming married.
That may seem like a long time, and indeed it is. But let's face it,
that's how long it would take to replace most of the current crop of
conservative judges on the US Supreme Court (Roberts, age 53, Thomas,
age 60, Alito, age 58, Scalia, age 72), and popular opinion, while
continuing to change, will change slowly.
So what can you do in the meantime if you care?
The single most important thing right now is to insure the California
Proposition 8, a Constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage,
does not pass.
If it does not pass, it will be the first time in US history that
the people themselves (representing about 10% of the entire US
population), will have indicated their preference for equality in
marriage for everyone. That would be monumental.
Earlier, it looked like it had little chance of passing, but a recent
poll has shown that support for the amendment has increased
signficantly, almost certainly due to a massive television advertising
campaign by proponents. As sucky as the truth is, television
advertising is effective.
How can you help insure the amendment will not pass? Two ways.
First, make sure everyone you know who opposes this amendment and is
eligible to vote in California is in fact registered to vote. To
point someone to how to get registered go here:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
scroll down to California, all the necessary links are there, or
http://www.sos.ca.gov/...
the California Secretary of State's voter registration page.
The deadline for registration is October 20th.
Second, if you haven't been wiped out by the financial crisis, donate
a few dollars so that television advertisements in opposition can be
run to negate those of the proponents. Again, it sucks, but there's
really nothing else that's effective. You can give as little as $5,
and only takes about one minute using the online form. You don't
have to be a California resident to contribute.
Prop 8 donations: https://secure.ga4.org/...