I’ve got to be honest: despite the fact that it affects me personally, I’m having a really difficult time summoning a healthy amount of outrage about yesterday’s California Supreme Court ruling. Here’s why:
- The court had almost no choice but to rule the way it did. Gavin Newsom DID overstep his authority, and since the City and County of San Francisco ultimately had no authority to perform these marriages, it was a near certainty that they would be ruled invalid.
- The court was NOT ruling on the Constitutionality of same-sex marriage in general, but on the legality of San Francisco’s implementation of it. In other words, the opinion did not state that banning same-sex marriage is OK, but that it is NOT OK for municipalities to decide for themselves what is and is not Constitutional, and which laws they will or will not abide by.
Ultimately, I believe that the California — or US — Supreme Court WILL rule that a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, and I believe that this will be the correct decision. Hell, even the opponents believe this, which is why they’re trying to mutilate the Constitution with an amendment…
But yesterday’s ruling in Sacramento had nothing to do with any of this. We engaged in civil disobedience. We knew it, the mayor knew it, and just about everyone else knew it. The very nature of civil disobedience is that it involves violating the law in an attempt to draw attention to the problems with that law. By definition, there are also legal consequences, and I sort of bristle at the the idea of people who knowingly broke the law to make a statement becoming upset at being told that we did in fact break the law. That was sort of the point, wasn’t it?
All in all, we did a good thing. Gavin Newson did a good thing. But it wasn’t legal. Not yet. The court was correct. And that’s why I didn’t feel compelled to march nor to feel too terribly outraged just based on this particular decision. It’s slow and tedious, but that’s how the legislative and judicial process works. And generally it DOES work. Eventually…
Unrelated: I decided to post the notes I’ve been keeping about our Dish Network Dish DVR 510 nightmare. Read this page if you’re thinking of getting one…