Boston Judge Says Gay Marriage Ban Unconstitutional
A recent decision by Boston Federal District Judge Joseph Tauro says the 1996 Federal Defense of Marriage Act (which defines marriage as between a man and a woman) violates the equal protection clause of the US Constitution and thus is unconstitutional. The judge according to CNN also says the law strips states of their long standing right and practice to dictate laws of marriage locally as opposed to federal regulation. Notably, the judge points out that laws barring interracial marriage were just as controversial in their day as those regarding gay marriage.
It seems obvious from the get go that the Defense of Marriage Act violates the 14th Amendment of the constitution which guarantees Americans equal protection under the law. State laws doing similar things are also in violation of this clause. Why it has taken so long for someone to raise the issue -that was clear as day at the time these laws were passed - is any one's guess, probably politically motivated. Why people think gay people do not deserve the same rights as straight people is beyond any one's guess as well especially since what these people do in their private life is their business and nobody else's so long as they are not infringing on anybody else's rights. Of course, trying to articulate this to a propaganda fed populace is like trying to sell hot tea on the street on a simmering summer day.
Gay people deserve the same rights to marriage as straight people regardless of whether traditionally, it was between a man and woman before society came to allow gay people to come out in public more. Denying gay people their constitutional rights is abhorrent and just plain wrong. What people do not seem to realize is that with marriage, come very many legal rights and ramifications for gay couples and without those rights, when a partner dies, or partners have children, or there is a medical emergency, things are unnecessarily complicated if not impossible to resolve. Gay marriage is not about promoting gayness --it is about sharing the same rights married couple's share and need to function as a full partnership.
Conservative gurus will come up with every excuse to deny these facts but the facts are the facts --not all the smoke and mirrors you will hear from those that oppose gay marriage not because it is wrong but because it threatens something in their life. Since when were people supposed to be denied their rights because someone else is threatened if they are granted? People in the South were threatened by blacks but denying their rights was no less wrong. Why is it different with gay people? No doubt, there is no gay bogeyman out to turn everybody gay contrary to some people's beliefs and some conservative Christian elements in society. Gay people are no more inclined to be child molesters than straight people if not less inclined. What are conservative Christian's afraid of? They are afraid of acknowledging gayness --it is not about wrong --it is about being afraid of acknowledging what is not wrong and what might be uncomfortable but not vile, except in the eyes of some bible thumpers and right wing people.
Hopefully this decision will indeed be a landmark starting point to ending yet another age old wrong in America that has been brushed under the rug too long. Gays deserve their rights as much as anybody else. Unfortunately, it may take a century to fix it like it did with slavery and segregation and civil rights which today remains and issue. It is sad the greatest country in the world cannot come to terms with its own differences, the very thing that has made it strong.
Ted M.
