CIVIL RIGHTS Victories For Equal Rights Earlier this month, the California Supreme Court, "striking down two state laws that had limited marriages to unions between a man and a woman," ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. The 4-3 decision makes California the second state, after Massachusetts, to allow same-sex marriage. The AP reported yesterday that "California officials are telling county clerks that they can start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on June 17." In another victory for equal rights advocates, New York Governor David Paterson (D) this week "instructed state agencies -- including those governing insurance and health care -- to immediately change policies and regulations to recognize gay marriages." Paterson called it "a strong step toward marriage equality." Once civil marriages are available in California and Massachusetts and recognized in New York, "marriage equality will reach around 60 million Americans," noted gay rights activist Andrew Sullivan. When asked to explain the reasoning behind the decision, California Chief Justice Ronald George, a Republican, said, "I think there are times when doing the right thing means not playing it safe."
CONSERVATIVE REACTION: Conservatives are up in arms in response to the New York and California developments. In California, right-wing groups are attempting to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November stating, "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." Organizations will reportedly spend between $10 and $15 million on the initiative. "The initiative will be asking voters to do two disruptive things: change the state constitution and retroactively impugn these already-existing marriages," Sullivan said. Other reactions to the California ruling were even more extreme, such as from the far-right Campaign for Children and Families, who compared the county clerks issuing same-sex marriage licenses to Nazis during the Holocaust. The New York Times reports today that "opponents of same-sex unions were pondering a range of legal and legislative challenges" to Paterson's directive, including a potential lawsuit "from citizens groups." New York Senate majority leader Joseph Bruno (R) "said he would be consulting with lawyers to study constitutional questions raised by Mr. Paterson's directive, suggesting that legal action was a possibility."
SUPPORT FOR EQUAL RIGHTS: A common right-wing response to the California gay marriage ruling is that the justices defied public opinion in ruling in favor of same-sex marriage. "It's outrageous that the court has overturned not only the historic definition of marriage, but the clear will of the people of California," said Family Research Council's Tony Perkins, for example. Several prominent conservatives also launched similar attacks. Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), former Massachussets governor Mitt Romney, and Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL), falsely claimed the California ruling came from "unelected judges." But the justices were "confirmed by the public" after being appointed and "also come before voters at the end of their 12-year terms." In fact, each of the seven justices involved in the ruling were approved by overwhelming margins. A Field poll released this week "found that in recent decades, a growing number of Californians have approved allowing same-sex couples to marry, with 51 percent of those polled now approving, up from 44 percent in 2006 and 30 percent in 1985." The poll is the "first ever majority for same-sex marriage in a California poll," Sullivan noted. Beyond the increasingly popular support for marriage equality, courts have an obligation to protect fundamental rights like marriage for historically unpopular minorities.
BENEFITS OF EQUAL RIGHTS: Earlier this week, Schwarzenegger suggested California's economy could grow because of the gay marriage ruling. "I hope that California's economy is booming because everyone is going to come here and get married," he said. The San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau expects a tourism boom this summer, and its website now "promotes a gay travel section" and explains that same-sex couples are "officially allowed to marry in the state of California." In a landmark decision in 2004, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruling made the state the first to legalize same-sex marriage. A 2006 report from the Williams Institute noted that "gay workers who receive domestic-partnership benefits are more comfortable in their work environment and far happier -- and more productive -- than employees who do not receive them." Furthermore, a report from the University of Massachusetts predicted that the Massachusetts marriage ruling could bring over $150 million in new spending in the state within a year. Furthermore, "if same-sex marriages increase general spending, the state will receive higher sales tax revenues as well," the report noted. "Workers who have an unmarried domestic partner are doubly burdened: Their employers typically do not provide coverage for domestic partners; and even when partners are covered, the partner's coverage is taxed as income to the employee," the Center for American Progress and Williams Institute noted in December. | |
FIFA, the world's governing body for soccer, "abruptly lifted the suspension of Iraq's soccer association on Thursday, easing concerns that Iraq's team, a rare symbol of national unity, would be banned from the 2010 World Cup." The organization suspended the team earlier this week after the Iraqi government disbanded Iraq's Olympic Committee. 
MINNESOTA: "Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) vetoed a bill that would have deferred some foreclosure sales in the state for up to a year."
ENVIRONMENT: "The number of people who live in coastal areas that are most vulnerable to wind and water has fallen slightly since 2000."
ECONOMY: Transit agencies across the country are paying 44 percent more for fuel this year than last year. "I think his editor wrote a lot of it."
-- Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer on former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's new tell-all book, 5/28/08
VERSUS
"These are very much the views that I hold today after looking back and reflecting on things and learning from it."
-- McClellan, 5/29/08 | |
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