Tom's Take on Today's Events

Tom wrote this afternoon's blog entry:
We woke up this morning to some distressing news: the voters in the State of Maine have overturned a legislative decision to allow Gays to marry. It’s difficult to not be upset at such things when it directly affects you, but if you will recall the history of the LGBT movement, it has been a long uphill battle for every single recognition and protection – what the right wing has labeled the “Gay agenda.”
Even as far back as the colonial era of our country, Ben Franklin warned about the inherent problems associated with allowing populist opinion to dictate public policy. Essentially, when it comes down to civil rights issues, the majority will never do the right thing. Imagine, if you will, what would be the reaction today if the voters of the State of Maine had overturned the right of interracial couples to marry. There was a time in this country, and not so long ago, when that was illegal. People, again the religious right, believed that mixing the races was an immoral thing. Today we view that as very flawed thinking. But it was only through judicial action that such archaic and hackneyed thinking was overruled. It will take that type of judicial initiative to grant the LGBT community the right to marry whom we choose.
The Federal Government’s position on Gay marriage has been two-pronged: 1) a piece of hateful and discriminatory legislation with the acronym of DOMA written and passed to pander to the right, and 2) pretty much a laissez faire position: let the States figure it out.
Well, the States have been unable to figure it out. There is so much inconsistency among the States – a handful of States allow Gay marriage, the majority do not. Some States recognize Gay marriages performed in States where it is now legal, others do not. It’s all one big mess. Once the Lambda Legal Defense and the Human Rights Campaign stop battling among themselves for the position of vainglory, perhaps one of them will step up and take the right case to the U.S. Supreme Court to settle this matter once and for all.