Yes, the Supreme Court ruling is huge. No, it won't be downfall of western civilization or the American way of life, regardless of what the conservatives would like to make you believe. The Supreme Court, in ruling against the Texas anti-sodomy law, not only dealt with that specific case, but dealt what could be the killing blow to all laws criminalizing sexual conduct between consenting adults.
A lot of things ride on this, there are a lot of ways people can choose to limit queers based on these laws. People lose their kids because of these laws not to mention their jobs and relationships. I can almost hear the rustling of activism across the country as people pull together challenges to the 13 states that continue to criminalize some consenting adult sexual activity.
Conservative groups now worry that legalization of queer sexual activity will fuel the fire for the legalization of gay marriage. This makes me laugh, shake my head and groan all at the same time.
I guess when the conservative Christians find a way to lower the insane divorce rate among heterosexuals, I'll listen to their views on how queer marriage will diminish the institution. Well, no, that's a lie, I won't ever listen to those views with any kind of seriousness. Conservatives have used sodomy laws to condemn us as criminals and used our inability to marry as a way to minimize our relationships and families. Here we are, people who want to enter into a formalized, long-term, legal contract with each other but aren't allowed to. Conservatives are defending marriage limitations and criticizing us for not being married. Nice.....
The Supremes have made me proud to be an American. They've proven that the legal system in this country can evolve along with it's people. And, contrary to what some opponents of this ruling say, sometimes the court does need to act ahead of the legislative branch. To me that's part of what makes our form of government work, the separation of powers, the possibility that not all branches of the government have to act in goose step with the others.
Posted by buggy at June 27, 2003 07:53 AM