Stupidity!

[brinshannara]

Just read from jessruth that all those SanFran gay marriages have been voided.

What the hell is going on south of the border? Seriously. I'd like to know. What is it about Americans, American politics, hell, American drinking water, that makes the US so much more socially conservative than Canada?

Check out this article, written by one of the men who were the first gay couple in Quebec to marry. In it, he says (emphasis mine): "Back in 1998, we were doing nothing original in petitioning for access to civil marriage. There were already cases in the courts of a number of American states and we simply emulated them. As it turned out, all of the American challenges except Massachusetts failed while all of ours succeeded. Public support in Canada grew and has remained significantly higher than in the States. "

Why? Why are two fairly similar countries so far apart on issues like equality for all citizens? It took Canada a while to start the same-sex marriage thing, sure, but once we got there, it's been like the floodgates have opened. First it was Ontario, then British Columbia, then Quebec. But the neatest? THE FUCKING YUKON TERRITORY allows same-sex marriage. THE YUKON, man!

If one of our territories is socially liberal enough to allow same-sex marriage, why isn't California?

Comments

[moireach.livejournal.com]

It's disappointing but it's hardly *surprising*. I would've been a thousand times more shocked if they *hadn't* voided 'em.

[brinshannara]

I was surprised enough by the stopping of the marriages. To actually void the ones that took actually took place? That's what shocks me. :/

[carta.livejournal.com]

Not me, so much. The marriages weren't exactly on the most solid legal ground, from what I remember. Didn't the mayor pretty much just decide to do it? Honestly, if any of the couples truly expected their licenses to be valid, they were extremely naive. It's a shame, but not surprising.

[brinshannara]

You... you lawyer, you! ;)

Honestly, if you were suddenly able to marry the person you adore, and you went through with it, and that ability to marry was then REVOKED, wouldn't you think that they'd at least leave you in peace? After all, you may have applied for the license, but it was the mayor who permitted it. It's not *your* fault that *he* made a good decision, even if it wasn't wholly legal.

Imagine any straight person getting married and then finding out, six months later, that the marriage is now void. Not because either of them were previously married and not divorced, or not because the official wasn't a real official, but because some asswipe in a COURTROOM decided "hey, you know what, we don't like that this happened, so we'll make it all void now".

I guess it's not surprising to many Americans who actually live in this social climate, but to me, I can't imagine getting married and then people saying "okay, no, it's not valid" and EXPECTING my marriage to be declared void, you know?

I wonder what Rosie's gonna have to say about this, if anything.

[carta.livejournal.com]

It's not *your* fault that *he* made a good decision, even if it wasn't wholly legal.

Well, they applied for the licenses knowing that the odds against it being validated were high high high. They took a gamble. It sucks, and I have yet to meet an opponent of gay marriage who's been able to give me a cogent argument against it. But I remember watching the news as people proclaimed the SF marriages a big step for gay rights and thinking that there was no way that these marriages would be upheld. It's not the State of San Francisco, and the mayor doesn't have the power to make changes like that.

This is part of the reason why I don't want to get married, even if I do find someone to share the rest of my life with. Until it's legalyl recognized across the country, I'm not doing it. (Says the single gal. This may all change once I meet Ms. Right, of course.)

[mary-contrary.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, the case wasn't in itself a direct challenge of the California law banning gay marriages; it was a case of whether or not the mayor of San Francisco has the right to ignore California law and grant marriage licenses deemed illegal under it. And, unsurprisingly, he doesn't. Is the California law stupid? Hell yes. I wish more states would follow Massachusetts. But I can't get too riled up over this single case; it was to be expected.

What's even worse is that there are a lot of people upset over last year's Lawrence v. Texas - not outlawing gay marriage, but outlawing CONSENTUAL SEX between two people even in the privacy of their own homes. Why ANYBODY thinks that's the business of the government (and this usually comes from people who sneer at liberals for wanting "big government"...yeah, it should be just small enough to fit in your neighbor's bedroom, dumbasses) is beyond me.