CA's ban on gay marriage overturned

[marina]

Hey guys, I'm reading and tweeting the full text of the prop 8 ruling over at twitter.com/marinarmartinez if you're interested in seeing some of the highlights.

Originally Posted by amyuilani

There are enough Mormons to create a majority vote on a marriage issue in the state of California?

Mormons across America donated thousands of dollars of their own savings to pass prop 8 in Cali because the church told them that it was a religious imperative.

[John Galt]

[Grapist]

Originally Posted by The Living Dead

My mom is in love with Fox News, and as she was watching it today I caught one of their correspondents talking about how the "judge did what the judge wanted instead of following the majority will of the people." Sometimes the whole "majority rules" argument is sick. If we let the (sometimes) idiotic majority rule, there would still be slavery in the South. Fuck you Fox News.

It doesn't surprise me that Fox news correspondents don't understand the concept of "checks and balances".

[John Galt]

It still surprises me that people are fighting to make gay marriage legal, instead of fighting to get the government out of all marriages.

[Alexandra]

Originally Posted by John Galt

It still surprises me that people are fighting to make gay marriage legal, instead of fighting to get the government out of all marriages.

To quote a phrase: "You're so concerned with squabbling for the scraps from Longshank's (Obama's) table that you've missed your God-given right to something better..."

The more things "change" the more they stay the same.

~sigh

[hayroob]

Originally Posted by John Galt

It still surprises me that people are fighting to make gay marriage legal, instead of fighting to get the government out of all marriages.

Don't spend a lot of my time on the libertarian side of the fence, but government dropping legal recognition of marriage would be fine by me. They'd need to make some clear rules about inheritance, property rights and medical decisions to fill the gap that marriage does right now, but these could all be facilitated and would probably end up being much more clear cut anyway.

Edit: I think the part about wanting the government to make new rules gets me kicked back over to the non libertarian side of the fence?

[John Galt]

Originally Posted by hayroob

Don't spend a lot of my time on the libertarian side of the fence, but government dropping legal recognition of marriage would be fine by me. They'd need to make some clear rules about inheritance, property rights and medical decisions to fill the gap that marriage does right now, but these could all be facilitated and would probably end up being much more clear cut anyway.

Edit: I think the part about wanting the government to make new rules gets me kicked back over to the non libertarian side of the fence?

Except I'd say we already have those rules (i.e. power of attorney, wills, living wills, and simple good old fashioned contracts). No need for new ones. Consenting adults can make whatever arrangements they see fit to make.

[hayroob]

Originally Posted by John Galt

Except I'd say we already have those rules (i.e. power of attorney, wills, living wills, and simple good old fashioned contracts). No need for new ones. Consenting adults can make whatever arrangements they see fit to make.

That's probably mostly true, but they'd have to stamp out a lot of the complexity. There's a substantial cultural understanding of property rights, etc as they relate to marriage, there's a substantial deficit of understanding as relates to the rules of contract law. People can get married without a lawyer, and basically know where they stand, so the contracts that replace marriages legal role would need to be that simple to understand.

[Alexandra]

Originally Posted by hayroob

People can get married without a lawyer, and basically know where they stand,

Right up until divorce court.

[hayroob]

Originally Posted by Alexandra

Right up until divorce court.

True, but that wouldn't be any better with contracts instead of marriage.