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October 12, 2008

Ruling the Culture from the Bench

Justin Katz

Same-sex marriage advocates can make erroneous emotional appeals to Americans' sense of equality, but the pattern that Connecticut's Supreme Court further solidified will have broad and oppressive consequences:

Striking at the heart of discriminatory traditions in America, the court — in language that often rose above the legal landscape into realms of social justice for a new century — recalled that laws in the not-so-distant past barred interracial marriages, excluded women from occupations and official duties, and relegated blacks to separate but supposedly equal public facilities.

"Like these once prevalent views, our conventional understanding of marriage must yield to a more contemporary appreciation of the rights entitled to constitutional protection," Justice Richard N. Palmer wrote for the majority in a 4-to-3 decision that explored the nature of homosexual identity, the history of societal views toward homosexuality and the limits of gay political power compared with that of blacks and women.

The small minority imposed philosophy, rather than interpreted law: from the deliberate elision of factual differences between male-female relationships and same-sex relationships to the self-aggrandizing attempt to be a history maker to the presumption of writing "contemporary appreciations" into law.

At a time when our culture should be fortifying its cultural building blocks, the segment of society that assumes its own moral and intellectual superiority not only over the rest of us, but over all of Western tradition, is instead intent on recreating the world in its own image.

Comments

October 12,1998

Ten years ago today

Rest in Peace

Matthew Shepard

Son,Brother,Friend

Posted by: Ryan at October 12, 2008 12:15 PM

That's a sorrowful anniversary, indeed, Ryan, but it's hardly relevant to either the appropriate definition of a millennia-old institution or the appropriate process for adapting that definition. It would be a calamitous tribute to Mr. Shepard to leverage emotional reaction to his death in order to undermine a key pillar in the well-being of countless children and the survival of our society.

Posted by: Justin Katz at October 12, 2008 12:30 PM

What will the right do if voters actually defeat a gay marriage ban? It's actually happened in Arizona - a pretty Republican state. Not a lot of liberals there.
In about 25 years, when the current twentysomethings move into elected leadership, we'll be wondering why we feared gay marriage for so long.

Posted by: rhody at October 12, 2008 9:22 PM

If you're right (and arguments from inevitability are getting truly tiresome) 25-50 years from that, forward-thinking people will be rediscovering what was lost in the process and lamenting that the change can't easily be undone.

Posted by: Justin Katz at October 12, 2008 9:29 PM

Ha! In your face, Katz.

Posted by: mrh at October 13, 2008 10:27 PM