Do you like knots as much as I do? I bet you do. But I am not only interested in the literal kind of knots involving rope, but also the figurative kind. That’s right, I’m talking marriage. Tying the knot. Entering into wedlock. The old ball and chain. Conjugal bonds. You get the idea.
Today, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear TWO marriage equality cases — the Proposition 8 case from California and the federal Defense of Marriage Act, also known as DOMA. In my view, both of these anti-gay measures should be struck down by the Supreme Court. I hope everyone reading this blog will agree. It’s time for marriage equality in this country.
To learn more about this issue, I’ll be watching to see what gay activist Dan Savage has to say about this when he appears on the MSNBC show Up With Chris Hayes this weekend.
Meanwhile, let’s all tell our friends, relatives, neighbors and co-workers that we believe everyone should be allowed to tie the knot. You can let your feelings known on this issue by wearing a white knot. Click for WhiteKnot.org for more information on how you can participate in this public awareness initiative:
Prop 8 in California, which banned gay marriage, was passed by the voters after millions of dollars were spent by the Mormon Church on its behalf. That was one of the dirtiest campaigns this political junkie had ever seen. Apparently the Mormon Church got a severe backlash for that, because they have now backed off from their position and have privately indicated that they won’t get involved in this issue again.
When I was in the state of Washington on business, the gay marriage issue was on the ballot, but there was virtually nothing in the way of political ads either in favor of, or opposition to, on television. That passed, and gay marriage is now legal in Washington.
I would expect that if the Supreme Court upholds Proposition 8, there would be another ballot measure in California to overturn that and allow gay marriage, it would not be noticeably opposed, and it would pass. If that’s the case, then the only thing the Supreme Court upholding it would do would be to delay allowing gay marriage in California. However, there’s always the possibility that the Supreme Court could issue a ruling that it would not be allowed anywhere in the U.S. Then gays would have to wait for a new, more liberal Supreme Court to rule differently. That would take a long time.
In related good news, here in the UK the government have confirmed that they have expanded the scope of equal marriage legislation that they plan to put forward soon, and it will now include religious marriage as well as civil. They are assuring that there will be protections in place so that no religious group is forced to marry same-sex couples if they do not wish to, but the Church of England and the Catholic Church are flying off the handle while the Quakers and others are delighted. Also it looks like most Conservative MPs are voting against it (especially with the religious marriage provision – rather embarrassing for the Prime Minister of a Conservative-dominated coalition government), but the other parties tend to support equal marriage so they probably have the numbers to pass it.
We already have civil partnerships for same-sex couples, but we should be going all the way quite soon! Assuming the House of Lords don’t scupper it anyway.