It is very easy to cheer for court rulings that mark a movement toward marriage equality. Too many progressives think: The battle is over. We won. And we move on. The reality, however, is very different. Despite court rulings, county and state governments do not necessarily comply. They can outright deny compliance, or they can throw new wrenches into the process.
From Thomas Witt, Equality Kansas today:
Sadly, however, the Brownback administration is refusing to acknowledge the reality of marriage equality. The only state agency that is currently recognizing our marriages, whether performed in Kansas or out of state, is the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, which is under a court order to do so. While there have been scattered reports of individuals successfully updating their name on official state documents, such as drivers’ licenses, the landscape is dominated by refusals. We have also talked to one couple that was able to update their license, only to be sent a letter a week later demanding the license be returned because of an “error” in the name change. Marriages are not being recognized in adoptions, people can’t get their spouses on their employer benefits, and at least one bank is refusing to recognize marital status in the issuance of mortgages.
The state, in effect, is playing a game - a game that says that maybe only one department has to recognize a process, and all other state agencies can still deny. This is the strictest interpretation of the law.
The look at the map should tell progressives a very different story.
The storyline of the Democratic efforts in 2014 tended to focus on a top-down narrative. The storyline actually ran through efforts to continue funding for 2016 races - like Ready for Hillary, implying that if we could keep winning the top of the ticket everything else would fall in order.
On progressive and Democratic websites, more democrats focus on the federal level: how do we win federal House of Representative Seats? How do we win US Senate Seats? While important, the fight over gay marriage and the map above highlights that a huge fight is still taking place on a county by county level, int he state houses, court houses, and county attorney offices.
It would be easy to dismiss this as "it's just Kansas" but for all the celebration over a ruling impacting Florida, Florida counties are following this plan to the letter.
http://miami.cbslocal.com/...
PENSACOLA, Fla. (CBSMiami/AP) — The county at the center of Florida’s gay marriage ban debate is asking a judge to clarify his order allowing same-sex couples to marry.
In a motion filed late Tuesday, Washington County asked a federal judge to say whether his ruling applies to just one couple or to any same-sex couple seeking a marriage license in the county.
http://www.tampabay.com/...
Greenberg Traurig, the law firm for the association representing Florida's 67 court clerks, warned that a federal judge's ruling overturning the state ban on gay marriage only applies to one Panhandle county, Washington County, the only place named in the lawsuit. According to the Florida Association of Court Clerks and Comptrollers, clerks in all other counties are not bound by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle's ruling in August that the gay marriage ban is unconstitutional.
If followed, the law firm's guidance could set Florida on the same path as Kansas, where multiple judges have dissolved the state's same-sex marriage ban, but some clerks in more rural areas have refused to issue licenses to gay couples.
County judges can refuse to grant licenses, they can stall procedures, demand a writ in order to force their hand - and they will continue to do so. Social services can delay, as Thomas Witt points out:
Marriages are not being recognized in adoptions, people can’t get their spouses on their employer benefits, and at least one bank is refusing to recognize marital status in the issuance of mortgages.
The mantra of too many is that in order for Democrats to be effective, there needs to be a plan to elect a hundred federal legislators. A plan that overturns the house in one election and so on.
I would tell you: a plan to overturn one person who is a county attorney; one judge who stalls a procedure, one school board member who demands an education plan that teaches non-science or hatred - those are the things that can change a community.
Progressives seem assured they can spike the football and declare victory - but it will require a lot of leg work, a lot of attention to local office holders to make the real changes that are required to make these court room victories real for far too many.
Kat Sanders, a woman seeking a marriage license was flatly informed that her county "wouldn't grant me a license. I'd have to drive more than 2 hours to get a license. It's ridiculous."
Conservatives control the county courthouses and county governments. Progressives must realize that for their to be real change, at all levels, there has to be an impact felt by people in their home communities.