Not so long ago, in my Constitutional Law classes, my favorite cases to read were opinions revolving around the Rational Basis Review. For those smart enough not to go to law school, Rational Basis Review is the lowest standard of review applied by courts when deciding Due Process or Equal Protection issues. Essentially (trust me it gets really complicated), all government actions must be 'rationally related' to a 'legitimate government interest' ... at least. (if were talking about a constitutionally protected liberty interest, like Speech, or a protected class, like African-Americans, then a higher standard is involved)
These cases were fun because they involved laws that were basically, totally bogus. Either the actual rationale behind the law was flimsy, or, the real reason was totally illagitimate and the advocates for the law were forced to pretend that the 'government interest' was something else ... Often, it's both.
Which brings me the the Marraige Equality cases. It's be a real hoot watching the lawyers advocating for the DOMA and Prop. 8 defend. Not because I hate the lawyers, I've had to make looser arguments in front of judges before - it's not fun. But, because it's sooooooooooooooo obvious.
The modest purpose of this diary is simply this: what you hear the anti-gay marraige advocates say is totally worthless. It's an effort to hoodwink the Supreme Court. The actual rationale behind the laws are clearly neither 'protecting children,' or 'protecting marraige,' or even preventing 'irresponsible procreative conduct.' It'd be nice if the media could make this clear.
You could say it's about homophobia, but that a big intellectual-like word. I would say it's because Conservatives find gay people icky, gross, and very scary. VERY SCARY - for reasons, I admit, not to totally understand.
That's my only point. The real rationale behind these laws is simply that TEH GAYS are gross, scary people. That Conservatives won't admit this openly is a pretty obvious sign that they know they're screwed.