Okay, time for me to weigh in...

[arib]

See, here's the thing. I'm all for legalized same-sex marriage. I just think that San Francisco's going about it the wrong way, and that'll make things more difficult for folks in other parts of the country.

I know many people argue that San Francisco's decision to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples is "civil disobedience," but I beg to differ. Civil disobedience is carried out by civilians, not government workers. Members of county government involving themselves in this raises the bar to a level that practically invites a negative reaction

(To give an example, GLBT couples arriving en masse at town hall to request marriage licenses knowing they'd be turned away, but still take up a large amount of the city's time would be civil disobedience, sit-ins would be civil disobedience. One city flouting state law is secessionist (sp?) )

Thus far, the only thing that I've seen as a result of San Fran's issuing marriage licenses is to cause more polls taken here in Boston show more people opposed to gay marriage, which won't bode well when a theoretical constitutional amendment hits the polls some years down the line.

Appologies for not being as coherent as I usually am, I'm a bit on the tired side.

Comments

[dafydd.livejournal.com]

Let me give you the "It had to start somewhere" argument. To wit, the State Courts declare the marriages invalid. Then, the Ninth Circuit agrees or disagrees, and the losing party appeals to the Supreme Court.

Once there, and only there, can the argument that marriage discrimination violates the XIVth Amendment be discussed and decided in full. If the Supreme Court says marriage discrimination is a violation of the XIVth Amendment, then the MA fight over a state constitutional amendment becomes moot.

Whether or not San Francisco did the right thing is, to me, of less importance than the fact that the concept of marriage discrimination is now in the court system. The fight is now on. Someone had to start it.

Civil Disobdience

[(Anonymous)]

"We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience before it can be cured." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Brendan (Someone who was there, and volunteered) http://maryfinn.home.mchsi.com/ <-- my story about that experience.