On DOMA and Prop 8

Today’s court decisions are about what I had expected.  While not as decisive as some would like, they are indicators of a change in direction.  I mostly want to offer my compliments to the LGBT folk who have been pushing these issues.  They have done it well and effectively.

I’ll compare this to the Roe vs. Wade decision on abortion.  I liked that decision, in that I supported the idea of choice.  But, at the time, I thought it was a bad court decision.  The trouble with Roe v. Wade, was that it broke with the public consensus, and brought about a desirable change before the public had sufficiently discussed it and thought it through.  That did not happen with DOMA and Prop 8.  This has been a grass roots campaign, extending over several decades, that has slowly won support with the public.  The supreme court was pretty much forced to make the decision that they did, because of this cultural sea change.  That the decision on the court was close, a 5-4 vote, only reminds us of how ideological the court has become.  The important change was the one that has occurred in the court of public opinion.  The supreme court has recognized that change, as the opinion written by Justice Kennedy made clear.

The opponents of this change won’t give up quickly.  They will continue the fight.  But the tide has turned against them, and they know it.

Back from vacation

I didn’t actually go anywhere.  But there does seem to have been a hiatus in postings to this blog.  I needed a break.