The decision by four justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Court legislating that civil unions does not meet its definition of equal protection under the state's constitution is a terrible decision. We know that it has the potential to be a disaster politically for Democrats, especially with Kerry the likely nominee and the Dems holding their convention in Boston. But it is a disaster legally. Four out of seven justices have told the elected representatives of the people that civil unions, where gay couples will receive benefits equal to those received by married couples, is not good enough. As if this rank judicial activism is bad enough, the four make matters worse by equating civil unions to "separate but equal" legislation, i.e., segregation in the South. This is an insult to those who suffered under Jim Crow. Blacks in the south were denied the right to vote, the right to go to the school of their choice, the right to serve on juries, etc. To compare it to the situation of gay couples in Massachusetts is an obscenity.
