Follow the Leaders (same-sex marriage-not activist judge)

[rodeodance]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/16/opinion/16rubinstein.html?th

March 16, 2005
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

Follow the Leaders

By WILLIAM B. RUBENSTEIN

Los Angeles — WHEN a California judge ruled on Monday that the state's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, the decision generated national headlines and scathing criticism. But the decision is hardly news, and the judge is hardly an activist.

The decision itself is just the latest in a long line of recent cases recognizing the rights of same-sex couples. In 1993, Hawaii's Supreme Court ruled that discrimination against same-sex couples likely violated that state's Constitution. The court sent the case back to a trial court, and the judge struck down the marriage restrictions. Hawaii's voters then amended their Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman, but court cases continued to follow Hawaii's lead.

In subsequent years, judges in half a dozen other states - Alaska, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington - have recognized the rights of same-sex couples to marry, as have jurists in seven of Canada's 13 provinces. And cases are pending in Connecticut, Indiana, Maryland and New Jersey.
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No matter how much opponents of same-sex marriage will try to say otherwise, Judge Kramer is not a radical liberal judge, wired on lattes in Haight-Ashbury. He's just now catching up to what the mayor and city council and state legislature - and courts from sea to shining sea - have known for years: that all Americans are entitled to equal treatment. Is that news?

[BOSSHOG]

1. Equal Protection for all citizens under our Constitution

is not what christian conservatives want. They want to destroy the constitution and replace it with the bible which is full of their "beliefs." Judge Kramers ruling was thoughtful and right on the money but it is not what christians "believe." And nowhere in the constitution is there a clause preventing homosexuals from marrying. The hypocrites amaze. Why aren't they roaming the streets on the sabbath stoning to death anyone who dares work on that day? It is so stated in Leviticus. But we all know, christian conservatives pick and choose what they want to "believe."

[Bob3]

2. Nor are they storming Red Lobsters

Shellfish being completely forbidden.

[blogbear]

3. If he becomes a she through the marvels of medicine and surgery..

will the courts refer to he as a her..so as I might make an honest woman out of her? If The court goes along would the states and the Bushies go along too? If so, I might have just enough time to 'create' a few flower girls too! I mean one of them could end up catching the bouquet and there we'd all go again!

[th2techdude]

4. And people complain that courts have too much power!

Um... no. The judge was interpreting existing law. That's what people do not understand. If it doesn't say that a same sex couple can't marry, then that means the law can not be applied to prevent such marriages from occurring.