Saturday, April 4, 2009

3 Down, 47 More to Go

If you have not yet heard, gay people can legally get married in Iowa as of Thursday, April 3, 2009!!! Yay!!! 3 down!! 47 more to go!!! It is so sad to see that we, California, even with San Francisco, has just voted for a constitutional ban on gay marriage. The idea of putting discrimination into the constitution is despicable; it's one thing to disagree with an idea, it's another to blatantly discriminate.

Supreme Court Justice Mark Cady, who wrote the unanimous decision, at one point invoked the court’s first-ever decision, in 1839, which struck down slavery laws 17 years before the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of a slave owner to treat a person as property.

Iowa’s gay marriage ban “is unconstitutional, because the county has been unable to identify a constitutionally adequate justification for excluding plaintiffs from the institution of civil marriage,” Cady wrote in the 69-page opinion that seemed to dismiss the concept of civil unions as an option for gay couples.

The ruling, however, also addressed what it called the “religious undercurrent propelling the same-sex marriage debate,” and said judges must remain outside the fray.

Some Iowa religions are strongly opposed to same-sex marriages, the justices noted, while some support the notion.

“Our constitution does not permit any branch of government to resolve these types of religious debates and entrusts to courts the task of ensuring that government avoids them,” the opinion says.

A little research will tell you that Iowa has always been a free state -- slavery was abolished in Iowa 17 (that's SEVENTEEN) years before the US Supreme Court outlawed slavery. Wow, does that mean gays will be able to finally get married freely and legally in this country in another 17 years? I guess that's not that bad for an uphill battle.

Opponent of gay marriage, wake up! How much longer are you going to use religion to justify hatred and discrimination. Then again, why do I think the brain-washed bunch will one day be able to think for themselves?

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