A long way to go

The confetti has been swept up and the tears of joy have been wiped from the faces of loved ones.  But we have a long way to go.  In last night's other big election news California approved a proposition banning gay marriage.  There were similar amendments in Arizona and Florida passed as well.  But one of the most thorough was in Arkansas wherein unmarried couples were banned from adopting children.  This effects people of any sexual orientation.

In California the situation is tricky because there are already 18,000 couples legally married.  According to the Associated Press, the state attorney general, Jerry Brown, asserts that those marriages will remain legal, although legal challenges may still happen.

That is one scenario that may lead the fight for gay marriage to go all the way to the United States Supreme Court.  The stakes there would of course be massive.  A ruling in favor of gay marriage would hopefully end discriminatory laws throughout the country while a ruling against could have disasterous effects.  Right now, SCOTUS is just Right of Center, with Right-leaning Moderate Justice Anthony Kennedy positioned as the tie-breaker vote.  Whether the gay marriage movement is ready for the Supreme Court is up for debate, but such bans as the ones approved last night may make that confrontation sooner than later.

The issue presented in the campaign in California for Proposition 8 was primarily gay marriage's effect on education.  I'll reiterate the basic point of what I said in my blog on Monday:

People who claim to care so much about children care about them on an abstract, rather than individual basis. They'd rather that the world change to suit their parenting style instead of being attentive parents that adapt to and counter the messages of the outside world. It's lazy. Parenting shouldn't be about scapegoating but about adapting to the world. That is a value that should be passed down the generations. Learning to adapt is something that parents should be teaching kids anyway.

This is not dissimilar to the hearings of the PMRC in the 1980s wherein Frank Zappa argued that instead of a ratings system lyrics should be printed on the back of the records so that parents may decide which albums are appropriate for their children.  The reasoning is the same: parenting involves vigilance, attentiveness, and involvement.  If this is where the debate is now centered then so be it.  As with all social movements the talking points must be truthful yet fluid.

But fear not because momentum is on the side of gay marriage.  If you look back ten years ago, or even four, the numbers have been trending towards an acceptance of gay marriage.  This is but a pothole on the highway towards history.

In other public voting news Washington joined Oregon as the second state to approve assisted-suicide.  I think this is a good thing because I believe it to be someone's right to decide how they die.

Throughout the country abortion-limiting legislation failed to pass, and in Massachusetts the marijuana question passed, making it a civil offense worth a $100 fine.  Congratulations on both fronts.

Animals rights activists are also smiling as dog-racing has been banned in Massachusetts along with the cramped cages for egg-laying chickens in California.