Tag: editorial

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Birmingham News: “It Is Time For Gay Men And Women In America To Stand Equal”

Bravo to the editorial board of the Birmingham News.

I encourage you to read the entire editorial, but for now, just the big finish:

We believe the Supreme Court will rightly hold that the unalienable rights of Americans include the right to marry, for all. Since the legal framework of marriage is provided by our governments, it must provide for equality.

Some argue that when the Declaration and Constitution were written, the framers did not conceive that their notion of rights extended to gay men and women, and marriage. No doubt true. For many at that time, such thinking did not even extend to equality for America’s black citizens.

But when America moved to right that wrong, Alabama stayed on the wrong side of history for too long (and our own 1901 state constitution purported to forbid interracial marriage until 2000, long after that had been rendered unenforceable by the Supreme Court.)

Alabama should consider whether it wishes to be in that place again. Times change, and the notion that laws should be interpreted within the nature of those times is also part of America’s Constitution. The first words of the Declaration of Independence are: “When in the course of human events…”

In the course of human events, it is time for gay men and women in America to stand equal. Laws that impede this are not in line with our Constitution, and must fall.

I hadn’t seen that point made about the Declaration of Independence in regard to marriage equality.

“When in the course of human events…”

Yeah. That works for me.

Forward.

Posted on

Editorial of the day: “The tide has turned. Time for Utah to turn with it”

From the editors of the Salt Lake Tribune:

Same-sex attraction, far from being unnatural, has been around since the dawn of time, and in recent decades mainstream America has come to accept it as something other than deviant. The American Psychiatric Association has considered homosexuality a normal sexual variation, not a mental disorder, since 1973. The Supreme Court in 2003 made same-sex sexual activity legal in every state, and then last June the court took that step of saying same-sex couples have a due-process right to marry. Younger people by and large take a more libertarian view of same-sex relationships, and that is what has fueled the nation’s shift since Utah passed its ban in 2004.

There are 32 states with laws still in effect banning gay marriage, but only one state has passed such a law since 2006. Since that time seven state legislatures have passed laws to allow same-sex marriage, and three more states did so through popular vote. Court decisions have struck down the laws in another seven states, including Utah. One of those states is California, where state officials stopped defending their same-sex marriage ban when it became obvious where the future lies. Utah’s ban passed with 66 percent of voters approving it, but it’s a legitimate question whether it would pass today if another election were held. Even the LDS Church has gone from actively participating in the marriage wars to simply explaining its own beliefs and practices.

The tide has turned. It’s time for Utah to turn with it.

(h/t JMG)