As expected, Judge Walker in California has struck down Prop 8 which prohibited gay marriage. Everyone knew this was coming and it will assuredly be appealed.
His reasons are startingly craptastic from what I’m reading.
Exit thought: You know, I’m starting to think that judges don’t really care about what the people want. Crazy, huh?
As this is breaking news, the blogosphere hasn’t really chimed in yet. I’ll add more links as they come in but a few places already have posted about what this means and what it will mean going forward:
Ace of Spades (As always with Ace he’s got great commentary but sometimes uses salty language so if you can’t roll with that stick with the other two.)
August 4, 2010 at 10:39 pm
Thank God! There is a judge who knows how stupid all us peon voters are and will simply overrule the will of the people to always protect the minority… Well, unless that minority is unborn or elderly.
August 4, 2010 at 11:06 pm
Keep using that 1990's cliche' word-play, because it's still always really really funny. Not.
August 4, 2010 at 11:12 pm
The Constitution is starting to look more like Pandora's box.
August 4, 2010 at 11:57 pm
What will Cardinal Mahony have to say about this ruling? Will he use strong language to condemn it, as he did in criticizing Arizona's SB1070? Oh, wait that was an Arizona law and Mahony's archdiocese is in California… oh, wait. Um…
August 5, 2010 at 12:44 am
In a highly emotional case like this, Judge Walker should have recused himself as one of two openly homosexual federal judges for the sake of fairness. That he chose to rule on this case shows at minimum a disregard for the democratic process. Shame on him!
August 5, 2010 at 1:10 am
So it's unconstitutional by law to acknowledge heterosexual activity is inherently different, because heterosexual intercourse can get a woman pregnant and bring on an obligation of a resulting child in which as a society we want a man ti bw equally accountable to?
There may be a lot of good reasons why our domestic laws should acknowledge non-marital relationships and address them in their own terms and needs, but why hijack marriage?
Denial of truth to make things equal isn't justice.
August 5, 2010 at 1:11 am
oops 'ti bw' is 'to be'.
August 5, 2010 at 1:23 am
Christians have fought against the equal rights of slaves and also of woman (and thankfully the Catholic still doesn't allow woman as Priest, they aren't qualified), and now we must continue to fight against homosexual marriage. We can't lose this one!! The Bible say homosexuality is wrong!!
August 5, 2010 at 2:21 am
It's a sucky position. The inherent wrongness of homosexual unions will always have a "But" exception (yes a lot of them are unhappy, alcoholic, abusive, BUT the one on my block seems so nice…).
And since it's certainly not accepted that society has gotten worse as marriage has gotten less important, we don't have a P.C. case to build on.
Pardon my bold Conservative Catholicness on this post, I just think on this special occasion it might be good to move the "Homosexuality is wrong, but there's no consequences to the actions, so it's only wrong because that mean ol' Catholic church says so" curtain aside for a second.
August 5, 2010 at 2:29 am
"I'm starting to think that judges don't really care about what the people want."
It is part of a judge's job description not to give a damn about what "the people" want. It is his job to apply the law dispassionately to everyone who appears before the bench.
That said, we obviously have another left wing bozo who thinks the ascension of the Obama is license to ignore the constitution and the law and use judicial fiat to impose more of the radical left agenda on us.
August 5, 2010 at 2:29 am
You might be interested in this. There is a finding of law that is curious in the ruling. (A Fr. Barron video is included too.)
August 5, 2010 at 2:39 am
We need to bring back slavery and remove woman rights, we need to get back to the basics, along with teaching homosexuality is wrong! It was the stupid liberal judges that freed the slaves and gave women the right the vote Why do these liberal judges want to ruin our society!!! Homosexuality is wrong. Read the Bible!!!
August 5, 2010 at 3:03 am
David (August 4, 2010 9:39 PM), you see, there is a federal amendment to the Constitution for these matters (woman voting and slavery). Under the 10th amendment, the States have a right to legislate what they want, even have a State Church (if the Constitution was worth the paper it's written on, see below).
(see the link for…
"Early in his remarks, Kennedy said: 'I believe in an America where the separation of Church and state is absolute.' Given the distrust historically shown to Catholics in this country, his words were shrewdly chosen. The trouble is, the Constitution doesn’t say that. The Founders and Framers didn’t believe that. And the history of the United States contradicts that. Unlike revolutionary leaders in Europe, the American Founders looked quite favorably on religion. Many were believers themselves. In fact, one of the main reasons for writing the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause – the clause that bars any federally-endorsed Church – was that several of the Constitution’s Framers wanted to protect the publicly funded Protestant Churches they already had in their own states. John Adams actually preferred a 'mild and equitable establishment of religion' and helped draft that into the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution. 3
America’s Founders encouraged mutual support between religion and government. Their reasons were practical. In their view, a republic like the United States needs a virtuous people to survive. Religious faith, rightly lived, forms virtuous people. Thus, the modern, drastic sense of the 'separation of Church and state' had little force in American consciousness until Justice Hugo Black excavated it from a private letter President Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1802 to the Danbury Baptist Association.4 Justice Black then used Jefferson’s phrase in the Supreme Court’s Everson v. Board of Education decision in 1947." -Archbishop Chaput)
(I'm going to bed.)
August 5, 2010 at 3:20 am
OK, not cool. Some troll just used my name to post some lame half-witted spoof. Lame. Get a life.
Idiot.
August 5, 2010 at 3:47 am
The Judge's decision is based on some belief about the facts, the history of marriage that is is untenable. Walker wrote: "Race and gender restrictions shaped marriage during eras of race and gender inequality, but such restrictions were never part of the historical core of the institution of marriage." Say that again?! Gender restrictions was not a part of the historical core of marriage? This could only be the claim that legally it was not stated so – a legal game but surely he does not believe that as fact – and from there he can pretend it was not implied. Liberal gay marriage supporters should be embarrassed by such games but there's no reason to think they care about such things.
The sad part is that their equal rights montra will gain support over time even if the people do not believe in gay marriage.
Prepare thyself! the Anchoress made the point well "Hey, Christians live in exile, and we’re in for a long one. It’s part of the gig we signed on for."
August 5, 2010 at 3:50 am
I was wondering, Early Riser. It didn't sound like you at all. Good thing I chose not to respond.
August 5, 2010 at 3:51 am
Early Riser,
You and Jimbo are going to have to unite on this one. Agreed. Idiots.
Then again, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Except that they can't spell or write a coherent thought, but you both can. OK, forget that:-).
Back to idiots.
August 5, 2010 at 12:01 pm
@Gerry. There was a time when there wasn't an Amendment to free the slaves and give women the right to vote…. but after numerous battles in the courts and legislative branch of government the Amendments were passed.
And Kennedy will soon be off the court. Really who cares what he has to say? Beside kids today think differently about homosexuality and religion. They aren't as uptight and willing to believe everything the church has to say. They are willing to question. The next 10 years will be interesting.
August 5, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Oh good grief! Not my buddy E.R. too! Dude, whoever you are – get a life.
This person IS an idiot and also seems to have some sort of an agenda to try to discredit people on this blog and make us look like extremist wackos.
Based on the theme and the strange type of errors I suspect that this "Dave" is the same person. These posts also remind me of that good old poster from back a while – "Brian". English is not this person's first language. I think the Archibolds could do a quick little IP check to see…
Either way. If you have some actual point to make, you should just make it or get lost. NOTE: If you have to resort to deception to argue something – you are already wrong.
Oh Anon at 10:51. Thanks – I think? 🙂
August 5, 2010 at 3:47 pm
I know how to change all of your views on this issue – have one of your kids come out as gay. I've seen it happen with more than one family – you realize that it is evil to reject them for something that is not hurting anyone (they're interested in other consenting adults), but that by rejecting them you are inflicting pain on them.
Not everyone in the USA is Catholic, and therefore they should not all be required to follow the Catholic rules. Why does it matter what the government believes qualifies as marriage anyway? The church can still choose not to acknowledge any marriage that they want to. Remember – they gays are not hurting you by getting married, you are hurting them by voting to not allow them the same rights that we have.