Well. Yesterday Massachussetts Supreme Judicial Court declared that the current marriage statutes in that state had sex-based discrimination built in and, as such, violated the protections granted by the Commonwealth's constitution. (I'd link, but if you can't find something on it you're not looking) This has, as you might expect, generated quite a lot of furor. As a mildly interested observer, I figured I'd weigh in on it too.
No, not on the decision itself. If you're a citizen or resident of the Commonwealth of Massachussetts and are in favor of the decision, write your congresscritter and voice your support. Good for you. Contrariwise, if you're a citizen or resident of Massachussets and are against the decision, write your congresscritter and voice your dissent. Good for you, I suppose. Either way you've gotten off your otherwise lazy political butt and participated in the process.
On the other hand if, like me, you are not a resident or citizen of the Commonwealth of Massachussetts, well... shut up. This is purely a state matter and if you're not a resident or citizen you have no say,
Yeah, I know "Oooh, full faith and credit! We'll have to honor them! All the Good Christian Marriages will dissolve and everyone will burst into flames!" or some other such crap. Yeah, whatever. If you don't want two men or two women getting married in your state, make it illegal or keep it illegal. If you don't want it happenning in Massachussets, tough. Welcome to the wonderful world of States Rights. And arguably the full faith and credit act won't apply if people really freak out. (State prohibitions on slavery or alcohol certainly didn't stop the practice in other states, nor were the covenants of slavery nor bands on distilling honored in those states that didn't agree)
The last time we had a big dust-up over this was in the mid 1860s. We could try that one again, I suppose. Or maybe people could just shut the fuck up and cope.
Nah, this is America--what am I thinking?
Posted by Dan at November 19, 2003 09:47 AM | TrackBack (0)The USA are not eternal, not more than the Roman or the Ottoman Empires. We could speculate on its future fall. My current speculation is that it won't probably fall under an external attack (unlike the two Empires I just quoted) but that it will collapse and dissolve in more and more independent and mutually unfriendly states. Reminds me Joe Dante's Second Civil War.
Posted by: rafael at November 19, 2003 01:58 PM