"Those arguing for the overturn for the proposition were making exactly the arguments they need to make: this is not just about a handful of gay or lesbian people who want to get married, it's about whether or not we as as state want to allow a slim majority to take away rights from a minority ... It sets an extraordinarily dangerous precedent," said the Rev. Susan Russell, a senior clergy associate at All Saints Church in Pasadena and the president of Integrity USA, the national Episcopal LGBT advocacy organization.All Saints Church married 46 couples between June 17 and Nov. 4 and has been blessing gay and lesbian unions for 16 years. The church has signed on to one of the amicus briefs that was presented to the court.
Read the rest here ... and stay tuned for more.
8 comments:
I think that you're right that it really does boil down to should a majority have the right to deny rights to a minority just by the sheer force of numbers. To me the most effective message we make is when we say, "what if XYZ group didn't have the right to ..."? Sometimes people need to look at it from that direction.
As a lawyer, I took an oath to respect the judiciary. After the quality of our Supreme Court's performance yesterday, I now have a very hard time doing that. Why do I have a right to marry the woman of my choosing, but Mother Susan Russell does not? I thought this country was about Equal Justice Under Law. There was a person in the Bible who exercised judicial authority by sending Jesus to death to avoid a tumult. His name was Pontius Pilate. His heirs now sit on our Supreme Court.
David, I'm a lawyer too. I was far, far more troubled by the performance of the attorneys for our side yesterday, particularly the assistant A-G, who looked like a first-year law student called on to speak in class for the first time. I would have ruled against the A-G based on that performance.
I wonder what other rights Mr. Starr thinks the majority can remove? How about that pesky second amendment right to own guns, or that whole due process thing? Why can't the majority remove those?
I favor removing his right to marry and to reproduce.
FWIW
jimB
Thanks, Susan, and to all of you who are fighting the good fight for the rest of us.
Anybody looking into any crystal balls? Anybody wanna say what's in their gut about the "final outcome" in 90 days?
Jim, if the Court decides as I think it will - 5-2 against setting 8 aside - the implication is there are NO rights a simple majority of the voters cannot take away.
Elizabeth - see above.
Gays wanting to marry same sex are not the only ones who are restricted in their Marriage partner choice. ALL of us have to abide by restrictions when it comes to Marriage . As a Heterosexual person, I too, cannot marry anyone or anything I please. Marriage is clearly a God ordained relationship (prayerfully read Genesis 1 & 2), clearly, between a Man & a Woman. Like it or not, most all of our laws and mores in society come from the Bible. THAT's the relationship that over and over again is held up as an ideal in God's Word. God even uses the symbol of Marriage to describe the relationship we will have with him in Heaven. (Marriage Supper of the Lamb.) And Jesus' first miracle when he began his Ministry, started at a wedding between a Bride & a Groom. Marriage is a primary concern of God's. He has many reasons for establishing Marriage as between a Man and a Woman. (too numerous to mention here.) Homosexuals, bi-sexuals, trans gendered, heterosexuals, etc., are FREE to couple with any one they like, any time they like.(that is, if they reject the Holy Spirit.) However, in the interest of stable society and the family, Marriage remaining in it's original intent & definition, cannot not be altered. Man on Man 'Marriage' simply is a non-Truth. Even if Man's Laws change, God's Laws are unchanging. Please stop forcing your will on others who are also making sacrifices to abide by societies constraints. Please don't get in the way of a chance for a child to have both a Mother & a Father, married to each other -- & please make an honest assessmnet of your own same-sex relations and note the psychological, emotional, physical, & spiritual toll it has taken on you. 'God made man in his own image, male & female, he created them....and God waw all that he had made, and it was very good..' Ge 1.
LG ... with all due respect, you -- as a citizen of these United States -- are free to understand God's will for your life as you please.
You -- or anybody else, for that matter -- are NOT free to write your theology into our Constitution.
The very same argument that "God's Laws are Unchanging" was used to prop up segregation ... that was then -- this is now.
And I for one am now officially "giving up for Lent" giving ANY more attention to intentionally ignorant entitlement arguments from the heterosexism-centric paradigm.
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