Supremes’ ruling on gay marriage important, not critical
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday that it hear arguments in two important but very different cases involving gay marriage, raising the odds that it will soon establish the basic legal architecture for how that issue is handled in the future.
One case, out of New York, addresses how the federal government must handle gay marriages that are conducted in states where such marriages are legal. The second, out of California, raises the more fundamental question of whether gay marriage is a right protected under the Constitution’s promise of equal protection.
Given the range of legal questions at stake in those two cases, the court’s final ruling next June could take any number of turns. And you just know that Justice Antonin Scalia is itching to get his hands on this issue.
However, it is also important to point out that however the nine justices decide, all final decisions on the matter will be made by the American people. And they have already made it clear that we will not be going backward on this issue, and that whatever the Supreme Court’s ruling this year, in time the right to marry will be extended to all Americans, gay or straight.
Young people support that right overwhelming. Despite the stern opposition of their church, almost 60 percent of Catholics support it. According to a Pew poll in July, political independents support it by an 11-point margin. Black Americans, long dubious of the notion, also support it in increasing numbers.
As recently as 1996, 65 percent of Americans rejected the notion of gay marriage; only 27 percent supported it. Yet in the July Pew poll, 48 percent of Americans supported it and just 44 percent opposed it. That is an extraordinary shift in public opinion in just 16 years, on an issue that that you might think people might be stubborn about.
So do your worst, Justice Scalia. At worst, you and others can temporarily affect the pace of the change that is taking place across this country. But you cannot affect the final outcome.
– Jay Bookman
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1,132 comments Add your comment
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 9th, 2012
9:25 pm
OK let’s all laugh at the King of Parody – You guys might not get this, but SoCoBro may.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmGVYki-oyQ
moonbat betty
December 9th, 2012
9:26 pm
“Probably.”
That doesn’t sound very confident, RF.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 9th, 2012
9:31 pm
Ten years of tomfoolery is hard to let go of…
Ten, hell.
More like thirty or longer.
We have a generation that has been weaned on this phlogiston economics and doesn’t know any better.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 9th, 2012
9:35 pm
This is my favorite of all time from my boy Al:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2mU6USTBRE
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 9th, 2012
10:11 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGweGgRSje4
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
December 9th, 2012
10:18 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeTOWt27ETQ
moonbat betty
December 9th, 2012
10:28 pm
Merry Christmas, Kam.
Debbie, a little Al.
I love this one.
Apparently, a lot of others agree.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9qYF9DZPdw
guy
December 9th, 2012
10:38 pm
This is not important because the ruling is about those who are insane to begin with.
RF
December 9th, 2012
10:48 pm
“This is not important because the ruling is about those who are insane to begin with.”
True, you can’t change a bunch of narrow-minded loonies and get them to accept reality, but we gay folks do try to be patient with them.
moonbat betty
December 9th, 2012
10:51 pm
OMG 1108 posts until a turd in the punch bowl!!
It’s a new record ladies and gentlemen.
j/k
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 9th, 2012
10:54 pm
White & Nerdy, gotta love it!
Thanks betty!
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
December 9th, 2012
10:56 pm
nite all – have a good one.
Corbin Sharpe. Baby Boomer leech...and earned it!
December 10th, 2012
7:04 am
Good Monday mornin’ all y’all .. I see everyone is in the same mood I am in…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjFoQxjgbrs
Corbin Sharpe. Baby Boomer leech...and earned it!
December 10th, 2012
7:13 am
…Or maybe it’s just…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuvbFHWfHbo
stands for decibels
December 10th, 2012
7:24 am
monday, monday mornin’ back atcha, Corbin.
As expected, listening to <a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/12/10/166858493/politics-in-the-news Cokie explaining to Renee in terms that Morning Edition listeners are supposed to receive as conventional Beltway wisdom makes my brain hurt.
(Mrs. sfd tells me I should just ignore them, but it’s like a multicar wreck I pass every Monday morning. I know I ought to, but I can’t. All I can do is imagine how much better this segment would be with most any random political junkie doing Cokie’s bit.)
stands for decibels
December 10th, 2012
7:26 am
whoopsie. Sorry about linkee fail. They don’t have the audio online yet, anyway, but this is where one would go if one wished to hear what I was jabbering about @ 7.24.
C.K.
December 10th, 2012
7:27 am
“Americans will not let anything bad happen to children on purpose.”
Abort that thought.
Gale
December 10th, 2012
7:45 am
On topic, my SO said she didn’t want to hear about marriage until we could get married, even though her aunt called this weekend to offer to perform the ceremony in CA.
stands for decibels
December 10th, 2012
7:57 am
Would it make guys like our C.K. @ 7.27 feel a bit better if we were to all routinely refer to first-trimester embryos as “unborn terrorists”?
Corbin Sharpe. Baby Boomer leech...and earned it!
December 10th, 2012
7:57 am
So Gale. Are you going to wait to see what the Supreme Court says or do you think you’ll go to CA? By the way, as you can tell by mt last name, this is your Kentucky Cousin…
indigo
December 10th, 2012
8:04 am
Kamchak – 8:32 “you’re old enough to know better”
No, you’re NOT old enough to have learned that, not challenging someone’s faith, politics or any other belief because they might be offended, suggests a cowardly and adolesent way of thinking.
Gale
December 10th, 2012
8:06 am
Hey cousin! I should’a known. I will wait for federal legality. It is all pointless unless we are still married when we come home.
Corbin Sharpe. Baby Boomer leech...and earned it!
December 10th, 2012
8:10 am
Gale,
It’s too bad that being married “In the eyes of God” isn’t enough. One should just be able to declare publicly, “I take this person to me my mate for life” and let it be so. It’s nobodies business except those involved.
Doggone/GA
December 10th, 2012
8:11 am
“It’s nobodies business except those involved”
It’s not just between the partners. It’s a legal contract, it’s the government’s business because it is the government’s laws that protect the people who sign that contract. What it is, really, is not the CHURCH’S *business*
Gale
December 10th, 2012
8:19 am
I have to agree with Doggone on this one. If I did not care about the legalities, we would have been married years ago. The government in in the marriage business big time because the civil contract obligates partners in specific transactions with the rest of society. Most straight couples don’t think about those things because they don’t have to. When they “married” legalities are explained, many people who really never cared about gay marriage start saying, ‘that really isn’t fair.’.
Oscar
December 10th, 2012
8:20 am
How are the Sons of Confederate Veterans doing.
JKL2
December 10th, 2012
8:20 am
So when are you libs going to break out the “It’s my right to marry my dog/sheep/horse/pet” campaign?
Oscar
December 10th, 2012
8:23 am
JK – those animals know better than to marry humans.
Gale
December 10th, 2012
8:26 am
It is not even funny anymore when the marry an animal crowd comes out. It is a legal contract. When an animal can sign a legal contract, then we will talk about marrying an animal.
JKL2
December 10th, 2012
8:34 am
Look Jay, it has a chart:
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=82268672
The party of handouts is winning again…
Jay
December 10th, 2012
8:34 am
“So when are you libs going to break out the “It’s my right to marry my dog/sheep/horse/pet” campaign?”
Sorry, JKL. If you want legal cover for those predilections, you’re going to have to fight for it yourself and not leave it to others.
SLOLife
December 10th, 2012
4:36 pm
As to the “naturalness” of gay marriage, it’s been shown that in most mammal species, there are homosexuals that make up a small percentage of the whole–just like with humans. Even some bird species have homosexual members. Homosexuality is as “normal” as left-handedness or red-headedness, or even extreme height or shortness.
If your religion or morals prevent you from accepting homosexual marriage or partnerships, by all means don’t get involved in one . . . but don’t tell others what they may or may not do.