Tyranny of the majority

I called it after oral arguments. The CA Supreme Court doesn't have the gonads to actually say flat-out that the people were wrong, and that you can't amend the Constitution to allow the majority to take rights away from a minority. But because of the insanely fucked up ballot initiative process, apparently, you can take away rights from a minority. I want to start a ballot initiative to outlaw the Mormon Church.*

In all seriousness, though, while I Am Not A Lawyer, even I can tell that this ruling has a hole big enough to drive the Narada through. By allowing those of us 18,000 couples who'd already gotten married to stay married, the Court has just created two classes: LGBT people who are legally married, and LBGT people who can't legally marry. This would seem to be a direct violation of the equal protection clauses in the state constitution.

One thing I do know is that if we want a hope in hell of reversing this in 2010, the No on 8 side needs to do a much better job at presenting our case. We simply can't just react to the lies of the other side; we need to be proactive about explaining why banning same-sex marriage is bad policy, and show the actual people who will be hurt by this. Why didn't the "Don't Divorce Us" slideshow get done last August? Why did the No on 8 campaign hardly ever mention the words "gay" or "lesbian" in their ads, and rarely show actual GLBT people? 

Last night before we went to bed, I told Ruth that I didn't give a fuck what the Court said today: as far as I'm concerned, we're married until one of us says we're not. 

* Yes, I am aware that this wouldn't be upheld because it would violate the U.S. Constitution. But I'm feeling bitchy and vindictive and angry--which, again, illustrates why civil rights should never be put to a popular vote.

The fight goes on

I'm disappointed, no question; although it's not quite over yet, it certainly doesn't look good: Prop 8 is leading by 4 percentage points.

But tomorrow...we get up and fight this thing. Allowing a simple majority to take civil rights away from a minority is simply wrong.

I do want to thank all of you who donated, canvassed, phone banked, and voted against this constitutional obscenity.

For everyone who voted for Prop 8?

Karma's a motherfucking bitch, and I'm confident that sooner or later, the hate you spewed will be returned in full measure.

The state...the state...the state is on fire

We could really use some water, and I don't want to see this motherfucker burn.

Looking outside the window of our trailer, the sky is kind of a brownish gray. It's been like this since Monday, getting steadily worse throughout the week. When you step outside, you can smell woodsmoke. My eyes itch constantly and it's even harder to breathe than it normally is during a Sacramento summer.

There are more than 800 separate wildfires throughout Northern California this week, most of them sparked by lightning. We're already in drought conditions, so the initial fires spread quickly.

I'm still boggling over the people upset that Arnold's considering a ban on fireworks sales this year. In California, only nonprofit organizations can sell fireworks for a couple weeks around the 4th of July, as a fundraiser. I understand that a lot of groups depend on that revenue, but under the circumstances, discouraging people from using potential fire hazards outdoors seems reasonable.

This is one of those times when I wish there were some way to swap weather, because right now, the Midwest rain sounds pretty good.