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The question is, why should he have to?
Article IV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution, commonly known as the Full Faith and Credit Clause: "Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof." In other words, what's legal in one State should be legal in all States.
Gay marriage has been an un-Constitutional exception. Unfortunately, the US Supreme Court has established a precedent in favor of corporate shenanigans and hateful prejudices known as the "public policy exception." In other words, the Federal Constitution becomes meaningless if some local politicians say so.
The question is whether the "Defense of Marriage" is legitimate public policy, or just discrimination under The Equal Protection Clause, part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provides that "no state shall… deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." In other words, if you can get married, I can get married. If you choose to deny me that right by virtue of my membership in a special class of people, you're in violation of that post-Civil War law.
Still, it may take a new, non-fascist Supreme Court to sort this out. But with New York and California weighing in, something will have to be done to avoid chaos. It's like a new Mason-Dixon line is being drawn: Gay marriage will be legally recognized in some States, but not in others. But this isn't 1860. Courts everywhere will be jammed with lawsuits against homophobic "miscegenation" laws. In the end, it will probably take a gradual cultural shift among the majority of straight people, as, however odd the idea of gay marriage may have once seemed to them, its' opponents succeed in making it seem OK after all, just by being such assholes about it.
When major corporations start weighing in, and refusing to invest or relocate in anti-gay States, then you'll see all but a few poor pitiful holdouts accept reality and allow equal marriage rights.
In the meantime, it's taking the blind to lead the blind.
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"Defense Of Marriage Act." (see comment below)
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One more piece of what America should be is falling into place. )
First comes love.
Then comes marriage.
And now it's a milestone every couple in California can celebrate. Let Macy's Wedding Gift & Registry help you start your new life together....
Now that's sea change.
there are a ton of freaks that preach doomsday scenarios to freeze action, but I think people by and large are more accepting that we're told they are (and they're told they are) and when laws change with the times so do they
For you people in the future reading these archives - believe us - we are so GD sick and tired of this crap it literally makes us sick to think about it.
I hate to say it, but it ain't over till it's over. DOMA still stands. These marriages will not be recognized by a number of States, nor by the Federal government. Symbolically, this is great, but practically it has little meaning outside of the more enlightened States, and only on the State level. Until we get a new, more courageous & rational White House, Congress & Supreme Court, there won't be any real, substantive changes on taxes, benefits, next-of-kin, property & inheritance rights, etc, etc, etc.
In the meantime, this will be a major wedge issue for the Repukelickin's. They have no other issues. They will be gay-bashing door-to-door for the next five months trying to tap-dance away from their sixty years of failure in every area of public policy that really matters.
Joe Sixpack is going to get really fed up with this tactic, when gas is $5/gal, his job is in jeopardy, his credit is f*cked, his mortgage is going toxic, his wife&kids are freaking out, his bro's are on their tenth deployment to bumf*ck Egypt, and all McCain can say is "HEY LOOK AT THEM QUEERS!" Joe will be snapping back, "F*ck them and f*ck you, douche-bag! Where's my gawddam health insurance???" Wait for it.
This could very well be the end of gay-bashing as a tactic. Not just because it is so foul, but because it doesn't work. It will backfire big-time, as even hard-pressed evangelicals get tired of the Pukes always beating up on the little guy, and letting the big guys trample all over the rest of us.
In the words of a former political genius whose genius has since gone south, literally: "It's the economy, stupid." McCain's weakest subject. And whatever respect he might still be getting for pretending to be a decent guy will evaporate when people see him and/or his surrogates beating up on gays out of desperation. It's going to be a good year for social justice, but an ugly one for gays & lesbians.
So remember, when the new Democratic Congress and the new Democratic President start shying away from commitments they made, or the assumptions that we made in voting for them, every last one of us has to stay actively involved and let them know: This time, we want all this bullsh*t taken care of, once and for all. Before they can start servicing their corporate masters, they owe us the service we elected them to do.
And since gays are going to bear a lot of the BS in this campaign, the rest of us owe it to them to demand that DOMA be scrapped, and replaced by a Federal law affirming the right to marry, and staffing a task force in the Solicitor General's office and/ or the Attorney General's office to fight this issue at every opportunity. Because that's what it will take, and because when we win this election, we will owe it, in part, to the 'Pukes lame gay-bashing campaign, and the perseverance of our gay brothers & sisters in putting up with this sh*t for so damned long.
BTW, I don't have a dog in this race. I'm a breeder.
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