Yes to Same-Sex Marriage

The California Supreme Court seems poised to uphold a ban on same-sex marriage, even though doing so would mean bigotry trumps the constitution.

News reports say California justices appear reluctant to overturn the will of California voters who approved a ban on same-sex marriage in November. Never mind that the very same court approved same sex marriage in May as a constitutional right.

Upholding the four-month-old ban on same-sex marriage will essentially mean the court will allow bigotry to trump the constitution.

I wonder what would have happened if courts had given bigotry and prejudice that kind of sway during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and instead let their rulings be controlled by the the majority racist voting population in some southern states?

The opposition to same-sex marriage is rooted in bigotry, plain and simple. Does this mean that those who oppose it are all bad and mean people? Of course not. Change is never easy, and to paraphrase an observation voiced by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after he’d been assaulted by a white man in his 50s, If you’d been told every day of your life for more than 50 years that people who were gay and lesbian are bad people, what would you believe?

Overcoming the wrenchingly misguided bigotry towards men and women who chose same-sex marriage will take time. But the bow of the American ship is, albeit slowly, heading in that direction.

Mark my words, the day will come when same-sex marriage will be part of our American culture. I hope I live to see it.

For the life of me, I don’t understand why, in our heart of hearts, we would do anything to impede the right of two people who truly love each other to marry. After all, isn’t loving each other what it’s all about?

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