Inequality, the law of the land.

[rivka]

Yesterday, the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that gays and lesbians have no right to marry. Their justification: gays are too successful and powerful to need protection from the courts.

No, really.

It is clear that homosexual persons, at least in terms of contemporary history, have been a disfavored group in both public and private spheres of our society. ... This court nevertheless finds that ... a history of unequal treatment does not require that we deem suspect a classification based on sexual orientation.

In spite of the unequal treatment suffered possibly by Appellees and certainly a substantial portion of other citizens similarly situated, we are not persuaded that gay, lesbian and bisexual persons are so politically powerless that they are entitled to "extraordinary protection from the majoritarian political process." To the contrary, it appears that, at least in Maryland, advocacy to eliminate discrimination against gay, lesbian and bisexual persons based on their sexual orientation has met with growing successses in the legislative and executive branches of government.

While gay, lesbian and bisexual persons in recent history have been the target of unequal treatment in the private and public aspects of their lives, and have been subject to stereotyping in ways not indicative of their abilities, among other things, to work and raise a child, recent legislative and judicial trends toward reversing various forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation underscore an increasing political coming of age.

The ruling also made some kind of twisted argument that the existence of permanently childless heterosexual relationships and gay and lesbian families with children didn't have any bearing on the state's assertion that marriage is for procreation. Straight couples apparently need the right to marry because they might procreate accidentally. (No, really! That was in the ruling. What a fucking joke.)

Last Sunday, our ministers let us know that the ruling was expected any moment and that, whatever happened, we would be rallying on the steps of the church. So last night we made our way down there - not to celebrate as we'd hoped, but to mourn, comfort each other, and strengthen our resolve.

Maybe 60 people showed up - a mix of church and community. The one that hit me hardest was a forlorn little boy holding a sign that said, "But WHY can't my moms get married?" I was proud to recognize every member of our staff, to see our full Board of Trustees (including Michael) standing on the portico, and to have our ministers, John and Phyllis, be the opening speakers. John encouraged us with a quote from eminent early Unitarian Theodore Parker: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." Phyllis said that, as the ruling approached, she and John received multiple calls from couples who wanted to start planning their marriages... and that the most heartbreaking thing she had to do yesterday was call them all back. In the middle of her speech a car slowed down and someone shouted out the window, "Heeeelll, no! Heeeelll, no!" Without missing a beat, she shouted back, "Hell, YES!"

We heard from some of the plaintiffs in the case, from an adult daughter of two gay dads, from a PFLAG mother, from the ACLU and the Equality Maryland lawyers and from a straight married member of the Maryland House of Delegates who wanted to be the first legislator to go on record as supporting a legislative solution. An older African-American woman who described herself as "the wife of a Baptist preacher" led us in a stirring chorus of "We Shall Not Be Moved." The rally closed with a fiery sermon from the minister of the Presbyterian Church which houses Alex's nursery school (I didn't know that Presbyterians did fiery), in which he reminded us that we hadn't come to bury the movement but to resurrect it.

It was a great rally, but in such a bitter cause. I'm so deeply disappointed. Come January, I expect I'll be spending a fair amount of time fighting with the forces in Annapolis.

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Wait -- their argument is, "Because the executive and legislative branches of government have begun to do the right thing, we in the judicial branch don't have to, neener neener neener"?

[ckd]

Well, that and "they can't pop out kids without help", which should allow Maryland to close down every sperm bank, egg donation facility, or IVF lab by the end of the week.