Mercury News Editorial: In Prop. 8 Ruling, Facts Win Out Over Fear-Mongering

I have written about Reverend Carole L. Vincent, now a retired Methodist pastor and a reader of this blog, in a previous post after she wrote a letter to Barack Obama after being inspired by the "Letters to Obama" campaign earlier this year that this blog supported. The other thing that is noteworthy about Carole is that her church (before her retirement) joined roughly two dozen other churches and houses of worship in taking out a full page ad in the San Jose Mercury urging voters to vote against Prop. 8. Since yesterday's ruling in Perry v. Schwarzenegger she has sent me excited e-mails and a link to a wonderful editorial in the San Jose Mercury News. Carole has been a wonderful straight Christian ally who even went so far as to call the boyfriend when I went into a melt down mode late last September after more divorce wars drama. Were all Christians like her, LGBT Americans would have secured full equality years ago and I would not find myself disavowing the name Christian because of its increasingly negative connotations. Here are highlights from the Mercury News main editorial today:
*
When opponents of Proposition 8 sued in federal court last year to overturn the ban on gay marriage, some advocates of marriage equality thought it was a mistake. If they lost in court, their cause could be irrevocably damaged.
*
It turned out that the courtroom was an ideal forum to make the case that Proposition 8 denies same-sex couples the due process and equal protection rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. A judge requires facts, not the kind of innuendo and fear-mongering that were used to sway voters during the Proposition 8 campaign. And there simply is no factual basis under U.S. law to argue that gays and lesbians don't deserve the right to marry.
*
Years from now, when all Americans finally are permitted to marry whom they choose, we'll look back on Wednesday's ruling by Federal District Court Judge Vaughn Walker as a historic milestone -- a moment when opponents of equality were exposed for their hypocrisy and the absurdity of their arguments.
*
Defenders of the 2008 initiative presented just two witnesses, both of whom Walker dismissed as unqualified in his decision. Not that it mattered. Neither could offer any credible evidence that gay marriage harms heterosexual marriage or that barring gays from marrying promotes any legitimate state interest.
*
The witnesses presented by the plaintiffs were, by contrast, a parade of distinguished academics, public officials and scientists. They made an airtight case that marriage, whether between same-sex or opposite-sex couples, promotes family stability. Married people are healthier, live longer and have more financial resources. The children of same-sex married couples see substantial benefits. Cities and the state would gain revenue if gays and lesbians were allowed to wed.
*
It wasn't just poor courtroom maneuvering that led to this outcome. Says David Boies, a lead lawyer for the plaintiffs: "They didn't fail because they're bad lawyers; they failed because there isn't any evidence to support the argument they're advocating."
*
Wednesday was a thrilling day for those who believe in the American ideal of equality for all. The fight is far from over -- but even before Walker's decision, this trial demolished every argument put forth by opponents of gay marriage.
*
The ruling provides a measure of hope that as the case wends its way to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and, ultimately, the Supreme Court, facts will continue to win out over bigotry.
*
The editorial does not mention the "R" word, but the reality is that only religious belief and religious based discrimination provide a basis for upholding Proposition. If the U.S. Supreme Court reverses Judge Walker, it will turn the U.S. Constitution upside down and make the promise of religious freedom a joke. In the alternative, if that Court upholds the concept that the majority can take away the rights of minorities that the majority dislikes, then every minority group in the USA ought to be terrified - because they could be next.