May 15, 2008
What is Marriage?
According to California Supreme Court Chief Justice, Ronald M. George, Marriage is:
The most socially productive and individually fulfilling relationship that one can enjoy in the course of a lifetime
The court also says the State has no ‘compelling reason’ to ban gays from such a relationship.
Even better:
Although he could have decided the case on this basis alone, the Chief Justice kept going. He explicitly found that discrimination against gays, on the basis of their sexual orientation, was equivalent under the California state constitution to discrimination against racial minorities. To my knowledge, California’s is the only state high court to have come to this conclusion (the federal Supreme Court has not weighed in). For gays, this pronouncement is critical because it is portable—that is, gays can now challenge any California state policy that discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation. As Marty Lederman points out elsewhere in Slate, this in its own right is a signal advance for gay people.
In case I haven’t said it before, I love California.
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4 Responses to “What is Marriage?”
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here here. about fucking time.
I’m coming around to loving California, too, Michael (although your governor kind of gives me the creeps).
Yesterday’s decision was the best news I’ve heard in a long time.
ditto. Thanks for posting this Michael,
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