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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIt’s Over: Gay Marriage Can’t Lose in the Courts
A perfect record for equality post-Windsor.
By David S. Cohen and Dahlia Lithwick
Last night, only days after hearing oral arguments in the case, a Virginia federal judge struck down the state ban on same-sex marriage, writing unequivocally that tradition is revered in the Commonwealth, and often rightly so. However, tradition alone cannot justify denying same-sex couples the right to marry any more than it could justify Virginias ban on interracial marriage. The judge opened her opinion with the quote, above, from Mildred Loving, the plaintiff in the 1967 challenge to Virginias ban on interracial marriage. She thus joined a unanimous and ever-expanding collection of federal judges who have chosen to answer the question left up in the air by the Supreme Court last Spring: Did the Windsor decisionstriking down the federal Defense of Marriage Actpretty much strike down gay-marriage bans as well?
It didnt have to play out this way. Once the elation of victory died down following the courts Windsor decision in June, everyone found themselves asking the same questionwhat does this case mean for all of the other cases raising questions about gay and lesbian equality? The answer wasnt 100 percent clear at the time. As hes done in the past, Justice Anthony Kennedy authored a decision producing sweeping results, but rooted it in less than crystal clear reasoning. This was because Windsor has two independent parts that barely speak to one another.
The first part is all about federalism, not equality. Kennedy painstakingly explained that the federal Defense of Marriage Act offended basic principles of states rights because, historically, the states have always defined marriage and the federal government just goes along for the ride. By defining marriage for the federal government as only between a man and a woman, DOMA had infringed on the sovereignty of the states that define marriage otherwise, like New York did in Windsor, by including two women in its definition of marriage.
more
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/02/virginia_s_gay_marriage_ban_ruled_unconstitutional_a_perfect_record_for.html?
Behind the Aegis
(53,975 posts)It is fun to watch state after state fall, but there is still much work and there will be much backlash.
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)Behind the Aegis
(53,975 posts)The extremists will become more violent as they realize the tide is turning.
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)I fear the worst. Desperate acts by desperate people are not a sight to behold.
randome
(34,845 posts)[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)Yes. Who would have thought? Seems like it has gained steam, too. Once a few of the Cards in the House of Cards fall away, the House can't stand much longer. It will likely be a decade before it's equivalent to racial inequality, which is still there, but no longer appropriate in the general public discourse.
In other words, it won't be cool to use gay slurs because people will no longer laugh....even in discomfort. They'll look at you like you belched or something.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)X_Digger
(18,585 posts)A lot of folks want someone to wave their magic wand and make equality happen overnight. It ain't gonna happen- it's never happened that way, why should it start now?
This is the grunt work, the one-step-at-a-time effort that goes on behind the scenes. 30 years from now, everyone will point to Windsor the same way we point to Loving today. What popular perception tends to forget are all the cases filed after Loving striking down various state bans on interracial marriage based on precedent.
This is why each case is important, and your money is best donated to the organizations fighting them.
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)it's been a longgggg slow haul but, the end is near!
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)But it's no time to slack off.
The American Foundation for Equal Rights is responsible for the Virginia win, they could use whatever donations folks can spare.
http://www.afer.org/