Writing in the well-respected Washington Monthly, columnist
Kevin Drum argues that in retrospect "the most important event
of the campaign" was:
the Massachusett's Supreme Court's decision to legalize gay marriage. The result was nearly a dozen initiatives across the country to ban gay marriage and a perfect wedge issue for Republicans.
Over at one of my favorite sites, Tech Central Station, Arnold Kling
writes:
Although I take a liberal attitude toward gay marriage, I do believe that the Massachusetts Supreme Court need not have found a right to gay marriage in that state's Constitution. The Democratic Party reaped the whirlwind from that exercise in judicial activism.
And at The Agitator site, libertarian blogger Radley Balko concurs.
Gay activists who bellow that those who voted to ban gay marriage are all "bigots" and "haters" don't get it. Most of those voters are work-a-day folks who fear same-sex matrimony is an invitation to moral anarchy. We can say that's misguided, but it's just not the same thing as rank bigotry. And given the overall state of the culture, which is far ruder and cruder than ever, the fear that things are spinning out of control is not that hard to fathom.
What's needed is education over time, and probably the incremental steps of domestic partnerships and civil unions -- contrary to the Massachusetts court's radical judicial decree.
But gay activists still think filing lawsuits, regardless of
popular opinion, is that path to victory. On the heels of the
11-state defeat, National Gay & Lesbian Task Force leader Matt
Foreman issued a
statement saying:
The results underscore why we have a Bill of Rights -- because it is always wrong to put basic rights up to a popular vote. ...In the end, we know the Bill of Rights will guarantee every American the freedom to marry. ...This is only one round and when the fight is over, complete equality for gay people will be the only side left standing.
The courts do have an important role in guaranteeing legal
equality. But at the same time you can't just steamroll over
popular opinion or (as I think Foreman does) dismiss it
contemptuously and say only court rulings matter -- because in the
end judges are either elected or appointed by those who are
elected. And Big Daddy Government isn't going to do the job of
reaching hearts and minds for us.