Judge Vaughn Walker of the 9th District Court struck down California's Proposition 8 which constitutionally banned gay marriage in California on grounds of due process and equal protection. It was instantly appealed to 9th Circuit Appeals Court and will probably wind up in the Supreme Court. What I loved about his opinion is he makes some critical observations which Maggie Gallagher and her NOM cohorts are going to have trouble re inventing. The following is from the Huffington Post coverage.
In deciding the case, Walker offered a variety of findings that may be as important as the ruling itself. Among them were the following:
•"Sexual orientation is commonly discussed as a characteristic of the individual. Sexual orientation is fundamental to a person's identity and is a distinguishing characteristic that defines gays and lesbians as a discrete group. Proponents' assertion that sexual orientation cannot be defined is contrary to the weight of the evidence."
•"Individuals do not generally choose their sexual orientation. No credible evidence supports a finding that an individual may, through conscious decision, therapeutic intervention or any other method, change his or her sexual orientation."
•"Same-sex couples are identical to opposite-sex couples in the characteristics relevant to the ability to form successful marital unions. Like opposite-sex couples, same-sex couples have happy, satisfying relationships and form deep emotional bonds and strong commitments to their partners. Standardized measures of relationship satisfaction, relationship adjustment and love do not differ depending on whether a couple is same-sex or opposite-sex."
•"Marrying a person of the opposite sex is an unrealistic option for gay and lesbian individuals."
•"Same-sex couples receive the same tangible and intangible benefits from marriage that opposite-sex couples receive."
•"The availability of domestic partnership does not provide gays and lesbians with a status equivalent to marriage because the cultural meaning of marriage and its associated benefits are intentionally withheld from same-sex couples in domestic partnerships."
•"Permitting same-sex couples to marry will not affect the number of opposite-sex couples who marry, divorce, cohabit, have children outside of marriage or otherwise affect the stability of opposite-sex marriages."
Judge Walker more or less hit all the bogus arguments, while leaving God totally out of it, which is as it should be in a secular society. I bet the NOM bus is not rolling merrily along tonight. I bet the drinks flow for different reasons at the K of C convention. I bet there will be celebrations across the land for gay couples and their families and somewhere a very depressed young gay teen may suddenly have a glimmer of hope.
