Let's hope California can avoid a constitutional amendment overturning this morning's state Supreme Court ruling that laws excluding gay and lesbian couples from the right to marry are un(state)constitutional — which follows on the heels of twice legislatively passed (but twice gubernatorially vetoed) marriage rights bills.
(Gov. Schwarzenegger, who voted the bills, nevertheless says he supports the court's decion and opposes the proposed anti-gay marriage amendment expected to be on the November ballot.)
If the amendment can be defeated and same-sex marriage becomes an everyday reality in the nation's most populous state, then the pressure will certainly mount to challenge the (federal) constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars the U.S. government from recognizing state-sanctioned same-sex unions for purposes of joint tax filings, spousal immigration, Social Security survivors' income, and myriad other benefits that married heterosexuals take for granted.
More. From the New York Times:
Gay marriage is an issue on which the three major presidential candidates — John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton — are pretty much in agreement. All oppose it, while saying at the same time that same-sex couples should generally be entitled to the legal protections afforded married couples. All think the decision should be left to the states.
So they're all pretty much in agreement, but you can bet HRC and the rest of the LGBT beltway gang will be going all out for a McCain defeat (and, if history is a guide, it will be their top electoral priority, dwarfing any efforts to stop state anti-gay marriage amendments).
Changing topics. Beware political hysteria carried forth on a wave of emotional charisma, and be prepared for the unhappy consequences. This picture, for me, invokes visions of Nuremburg.
