3/15/2005
Gay marriage ruling step in right direction
From csmonitor.com:
The intensity of the debate, combined with the relatively slow way in which it's being resolved, is reflective of the way the nation has dealt with controversial social issues in the past. For instance, supporters of gay marriage point out that it was two decades after a California court ruled a ban on interracial marriage unconstitutional that the US Supreme Court concurred, in 1967.I see this ruling as very good news. As far as I can tell, marriage is about love and about sharing a life and about publically declaring that love and that sharing. We don't require people to be married to have children and we don't require people planning to get married to pledge that they will have children, nor do we ban marriages for women past child-bearing age. These arguments about what's best for the children are not relevant, especially when you look at how many children are growing up in single-parent households. Go California!
For supporters of gay marriage, the parallel with the civil rights movement is heartening. After all, it's been almost 15 years since the Hawaii Supreme Court first ruled in favor of gay marriage. Now lower courts in both New York and California have called on the civil rights battles of the past to justify their rulings in favor of gay marriage.