{"id":2463,"date":"2010-08-05T01:15:14","date_gmt":"2010-08-05T08:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=2463"},"modified":"2010-08-05T01:15:14","modified_gmt":"2010-08-05T08:15:14","slug":"celebrating-a-great-gay-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2010\/08\/05\/celebrating-a-great-gay-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating a Great Gay Day!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Congratulations to our gay and lesbian friends on the landmark decision that obliterated Proposition 8, the first time a Federal  Court has ruled that refusing to allow same-sex couples to marry isn unconstitutional.  We join all people who support human rights in celebrating your hard-faught and well-deserved victory.<\/font><\/p>\n

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\"5prop8\"<\/a> Judge Vaughn Walker’s 136-page ruling against Proposition 8 amounted to a ringing defense of the institution of marriage. It does enjoy a "culturally superior status" to domestic partnerships, he wrote. It does bond couples – and families – in a meaningful way, the evidence showed. It is a fundamental right, he declared<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Thus, the U.S. district judge found no rational basis for denying this fundamental right to same-sex couples<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Walker said the evidence showed that Proposition 8’s ban on same-sex marriage was "premised on the belief that same-sex couples simply are not as good as opposite-sex couples." Such beliefs are "not a proper basis" to legislate, even when originated by voters, he found.<\/p>\n

Even before the ruling, no one expected Walker’s judgment to be the final word. This case is likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court. Still, the strength of the arguments in this ruling has set the bar high for justices who might be inclined to overturn it. He was particularly pointed in unmasking the Prop. 8 proponents’ thin rationalizations of this vestige of discrimination. Walker found the pro-8 side presented "no credible evidence" that same-sex marriage would have any adverse effect on the state’s interests\u2026 [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <San Francisco Chronicle<\/a>><\/p>\n

Because the issue has personal significance for her, Rachel Maddow\u2019s coverage is outstanding.  Here are all three of her clips.<\/font><\/p>\n

In the first she discusses the ruling and interviews Legal Correspondent, Dahlia Lithwick.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/font><\/p>\n

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news<\/a>, world news<\/a>, and news about the economy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In the second, she interviews David Bolls and Ted Olson.  The attorneys in opposition to Proposition 8.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/font><\/p>\n

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news<\/a>, world news<\/a>, and news about the economy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In the third she exposes the weakness of the proponents’ case and the absurdity of their witnesses.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/font><\/p>\n

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news<\/a>, world news<\/a>, and news about the economy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Can you believe that most of their testimony referred back to George Rekers, cofounder of Family Research Council with James Dobson, and rentboy.com client?<\/font><\/p>\n

Of course this is not over.  I expect the Ninth Circuit to affirm the decision, and if SCOTUS opts to hear it, a 5-4 win, because Kennedy has a track record for supporting LGBT rights.<\/font><\/p>\n

I look forward to the final celebration.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Congratulations to our gay and lesbian friends on the landmark decision that obliterated Proposition 8, the first time a Federal  Court has ruled that refusing to allow same-sex couples to marry isn unconstitutional.  We join all people who support human rights in celebrating your hard-faught and well-deserved victory. Judge Vaughn Walker’s 136-page ruling against Proposition […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2463\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}