Gay marriage remains banned in California

Today, the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8’s ban on gay marriage, but also ruled that same-sex couples already married will remain married under state law.

Proposition 8 passed with a 52% majority, overturning a previous ruling by the California Supreme Court last May to allow same-sex marriage. around 18,000 couples married before the ban were effectively left in limbo. This decision dictates the fate of those already married, which I’m grateful for.

This whole thing still seems ridiculous to me, though. Why shouldn’t gay marriage be legal? We always hear from conservatives claiming they’re “not homophobic” but just “don’t approve of the lifestyle,” or they prefer to “support traditional marriage,” but these arguments don’t explain how gay marriage will effect them.  If you don’t like gay marriage, don’t have one! Why would you care if someone else does? What is it to you? To me, this all just looks like a thin layer of rationalization covering up plain bigotry — specifically, as the massive support from the Mormon church in the Prop. 8 campaign shows, religiously-motivated bigotry.

Beyond all this, though, there’s another aspect to this issue that I don’t think is discussed enough. In fact, I almost neglected to mention it, after reiterating my rant about gay marriage. One of the talking points of Prop. 8 supporters was that the “activist judges” had approved gay marriage against the will of the population. If you define the population as 52%, this is true. But since when do we deprive the rights of the minority based on the will of the majority? What if Brown v. Board of Education had been put to a vote?

So, this court ruling is a bit of a disappointment, even if it isn’t surprising. We all knew this court case was a long-shot. Worse, now there’s a precedent that rights can be taken away from a minority with a simple 50% majority vote. Looks like our only chance now is to pass a similar proposition reversion Prop. 8.

One thing I’m sure of, however, is that the opponents of gay marriage will be on the losing side of this fight. History has shown that those who oppose civil rights ultimately lose out. As the older generation dies out, support for gay marriage will increase drastically, and we (the younger generation) will all look back on this issue the same way we look back at the era of segratation in the deep south.