Morganni, that was likely me that brought up that last point on these boards. That's the position I take. I think of it as being consistent with my position on limited government and getting the government the HELL out of everyone's bedrooms. Just have the JPs issue civil union licenses to all couples instead of marriage licenses (grandfather in older licenses of course) and get the government out of the business of defining what marriage is and is not entirely. I feel that would take much of the wind out of the sails of the religious nuts. Eventually. I know they'd fight hard tooth and nail to stop that from happening because having government sanction the rules and definition of marriage gives them a power that they otherwise do not have.
Ironically I feel the LGBT movement has played into the hands of those same religious nuts by making the fight explicitly about redefining marriage. In my opinion they'd gain greater traction in the long run by going the civil union route and making it so that civil unions have all the important rights of a marriage. But nobody on either side of that argument wants to take a middle position anymore. They've dug in and are going to fight it to the bitter end about marriage now. When what they should be doing is going after specific rights.
What I fear is that the LGBT marriage issue might win court cases and rights for gay couples in the short term, but that those rights might be lost in some backlash later on. Court decisions can be overturned by later court decisions. Even the Supreme Court has reversed its own decisions in the past. It doesn't happen often. But it happens often enough that I worry about what's down the road for gay/lesbian marriage using the current tactics. In the long run, I'd like the rights of gay couples to stand on firmer legal ground.
Mind you, I could very well be wrong about the permanence of these various court decisions. A lot of that depends on the culture. And if these polls are any indication, we might have crossed a turning point in that regard. I hope so.
Ironically I feel the LGBT movement has played into the hands of those same religious nuts by making the fight explicitly about redefining marriage. In my opinion they'd gain greater traction in the long run by going the civil union route and making it so that civil unions have all the important rights of a marriage. But nobody on either side of that argument wants to take a middle position anymore. They've dug in and are going to fight it to the bitter end about marriage now. When what they should be doing is going after specific rights.
What I fear is that the LGBT marriage issue might win court cases and rights for gay couples in the short term, but that those rights might be lost in some backlash later on. Court decisions can be overturned by later court decisions. Even the Supreme Court has reversed its own decisions in the past. It doesn't happen often. But it happens often enough that I worry about what's down the road for gay/lesbian marriage using the current tactics. In the long run, I'd like the rights of gay couples to stand on firmer legal ground.
Mind you, I could very well be wrong about the permanence of these various court decisions. A lot of that depends on the culture. And if these polls are any indication, we might have crossed a turning point in that regard. I hope so.