So, today Massachusetts passed a law saying that civil unions aren't enough, that there needs to be gay marriage in order for homosexuals' constitutional right sto be upheld.
In Ohio today, they banned gay marriage.
What the fuck???
It boggles my mind that the Massachusetts Supreme Court can look at the US Constitution and say,"Yes. Yes, we will allow gay marriages because anything less is unconstitutional," while the Ohio State Supreme Court looks at the same damn laws and says, "Oh no. That's not going to happen. Gay marriage is banned here. Never gonna happen. And no domestic partnership rights either, ya godless heathens." So, say I'm gay and I'm married in Massachusetts and then I move to Ohio? Well, I'm completely fucked in that case, aren't I? It's just a ridiculous concept.
Technically the US Civil War was about states' rights, not slavery. But the issue there was, the Southern states wanted to have the right to own slaves while the North said, "Wait a sec, those folks're people too, and you can't just enslave them because you need to turn out a tobacco crop!" The North beat the South, damn it all. Forget states' rights. Let's go with civil rights.
Do we get to have an emancipation proclamation for the gay community? You are free! Go get married!
Oh, but not if you live in Ohio.
You wrote that "It boggles my mind that the Massachusetts Supreme Court can look at the US Constitution and say,”Yes. Yes, we will allow gay marriages because anything less is unconstitutional,” while the Ohio State Supreme Court looks at the same damn laws and says, “Oh no. That’s not going to happen."
There's a couple of major flaws in this: First, they're not looking at the same laws. The issue isn't the U.S. Constitution, it's the Massachusetts Constitution. That's the document the Mass. Supreme Judicial Court is responsible for interpreting. Because Goodridge v. Dept of Public Health deals with a question on the Commonwealth's constitution, and because the Mass SJC is the final word on matters of the state constitution, the decision is not subject to appeal-- this is why it isn't going to the US Supreme Court.
In Ohio, it isn't the court that has acted, it is the legislature. They've passed a law banning same-sex marriages *and* domestic partner benefits. Now, should that law be challenged, then it'll go to the Ohio Supreme Court and we'll see what happens then.
The reason Ohio is even bothering, of course, is that there's a much larger issue at stake, which is that all US states are required to recognize marriages from other states. So then this battle will go to the Federal level, which will mean taking on all state laws as well as the Federal "Defense of Marriage Act". And then the Federal courts will decide if banning gay marriage is unconstitutional and if states have to recognized marriages from states that allow it.
Hilarity ensues.
TC, I have thinking about this whole thing, and I've decided that YOU boggle my mind now.