Court ruling online: Gay & Interracial Marriage Issues the Same

by Gay Marriage Now Friday, Aug. 06, 2010 at 5:35 AM

The Court ruling at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cand/09cv2292/files/09cv2292-ORDER.pdf is a history lesson that makes it clear that the fight over gay marriage is the same as the fight over interracial marriage and that religion has no place in our secular Constitution. In 1948, California legalized interracial marriage; in 1967 the US Supreme Court legalized interracial marriage. The hysteria over children and preserving marriage was the same for interracial marriage as it is for gay marriage. The backers of Proposition 8 are clearly religious idiots trying to turn back the clock of history. Judge Walker's stay of his own ruling pending appeal should be lifted immediately so gay marriages can proceed in California immediately.

The Court ruling at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cand/09cv2292/files/09cv2292-ORDER.pdf is a history lesson that makes it clear that the fight over gay marriage is the same as the fight over interracial marriage and that religion has no place in our secular Constitution. In 1948, California legalized interracial marriage; in 1967 the US Supreme Court legalized interracial marriage. The hysteria over children and preserving marriage was the same for interracial marriage as it is for gay marriage. The backers of Proposition 8 are clearly religious idiots trying to turn back the clock of history. Judge Walker's stay of his own ruling pending appeal should be lifted immediately so gay marriages can proceed in California immediately.

The entire 138 page ruling should be read at
https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cand/09cv2292/files/09cv2292-ORDER.pdf

Countries that have legalized gay marriage are Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Sweden. Keep in mind that Argentia, Portugal and Spain are predominately Catholic, yet they separated church and state. Also, in Catholic Mexico, gay marriage is legal in Mexico City.

In the USA, gay marriage is legal in in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., and is performed by the Coquille Indian Tribe in Oregon. For more, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_the_United_States

Meanwhile, Democratic President Bill Clinton signed the ant-gay Defense of Marriage Act on September 21, 1996, denying federal benefits to gay couples that straight couples receive. Democratic President Barack Obama, who is against gay marriage but also claims to be against Proposition 8, has yet to repeal this discriminatory law, which he could do with a simple signature today.

Every legal organization in California supports gay marriage. All the major newspapers support gay marriage. All the labor unions opposed Proposition 8. Only the Republican Party opposes gay marriage, joined by such backward organizations as the Catholic Church, the Mormon Church, and Christian Evangelical organizations. Proposition 8 passed by only 600,000 votes, in a state of 13 million voters in a high voter turnout election in a state where the Republican Party is a minority party. The 600,000 votes can easily be obtained by pushing college students to the polls, if this issue is ever on another ballot, and it should be on the 2012 ballot if we do not have gay marriages performed in California by January 2012. Yet we have Democratic Presidents catering to the Republicans.

There is of course no federal marriage law. All marriage laws are on the premise of the full faith and credit clause of the US Constitution, Article 4, Section 1:
"Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof."

The current decision is based on the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, one of the 3 anti-slavery Amendments, numbers 13, 14 and 15. Gay marriage is certainly a civil rights issue. Here is the relevant section of the 14th Amendment concerning due process and equal protection from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
"Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

For more information, see
http://www.rightsequalrights.com/
http://www.freedomtomarry.org/
http://www.urbanswirl.com/news/politics/2728-california-gay-marriage-ban-overturn.html