The Right's Response to Prop 8 Ruling: Temper Tantrums

Let the temper tantrums begin. It took a few days for the anti-equality forces to figure out how to respond to last week’s Prop 8 decision. But by the weekend they were out and shouting, making their objections to anyone who would listen. And they didn’t let any little considerations of logic, dignity, or that pesky U.S. Constitution get in their way.

Their complaints came in three general forms: 1) this judge is biased because he’s gay (maybe); 2) religion needs to play a much bigger role in U.S. law and politics (like it does in, you know, Iraq and other holiday spots like that); and 3) Constitution? I don’t need your stinkin’ Constitution! I got me a majority!

Let’s start with the easy one. Yes, there have been rumors that Judge Vaughn Walker is gay. No, that doesn’t indicate, as Gerald Bradley ranted to Fox News before the verdict was even announced,that he’d already made his mind up about the case before he ever entered the courtroom. In fact, as Margaret Hoover, another super-conservative commentator has pointed out, in the past, Judge Walker has not been seen as a particularly good friend to the LGBT community, but has established his credentials as a paragon of judicial care and political conservatism. And, as discussed when this story first broke six months ago, the whole issue is a distraction and a red herring from the anti-marriage side. It is simply not credible (like so much of the pro-Prop 8 case) as a serious argument. So there.

The anti-marriage religious community got its sanctified panties in a twist at being reminded that religious doctrine is not, after all, a legitimate basis for law in the United States. Jim Campbell, speaking for the conservative Christian law firm Alliance Defense Fund, summed it up most clearly. "To be blunt,” he said, “we felt (Walker's decision) was an all-out attack on religion." Cardinal Roger Mahony really got down to the issue: "Those of us who supported Prop 8 and worked for its passage did so for one reason: We truly believe that marriage was instituted by God for the specific purpose of carrying out God's plan for the world and human society," he said. Cardinal Francis George took the next step:“No court of civil law has the authority to reach into areas of human experience that nature itself has defined.”

Actually, Cardinal George, that’s exactly what the courts do. That is what they’re there for. And as far as Cardinal Mahony’s comments go, I have to say he’s summed up the religious position nicely. They’re trying to impose their subject understanding of God’s will on the whole world, while we’re fighting to establish a system of respect and equal treatment that isn’t rooted in religion. That is, in fact, one of the central ideas upon which our country is based.

Then there’s the “7 million voters can’t be wrong” argument (although apparently the 6.5 million who voted the other way can be, and the fact that some polls show this majority has shifted doesn’t count). Conservative Representatives rushed to make this objection, for instance. The will of the majority should be the final word, this argument goes, and no Federal judge has any right to overturn it.

Except that, as John Diaz pointed out in the San Francisco Chronicle, the judiciary has exactly this kind of authority. My fantasy girlfriend, Rachel Maddow, is happy to explain it to anyone who missed that lesson in high school civics class. The Constitution and particularly the 14th Amendment are designed very specifically to protect the rights of minorities from the tyranny of a majority. That’s precisely what we mean by equal rights: that where one class of people is being abused or marginalized by the majority for no good reason, our government will step in to protect them and their rights. This is another idea that the U.S. is built on.

There is a great deal that’s hopeful in the general reaction to the Prop 8 ruling. Most notably, I think, is the new trend among conservatives like Margaret Hoover to recognize the real conservative underpinnings of marriage equality and to support it. And even Fox News has found that the tide is shifting and more and more people support the right to marry. But meanwhile, we have to deal with these ranting, nonsensical tantrums that have nothing to do with the real issues at hand and refuse to treat the issue — let alone us — with any respect. This is not debate. This is not credible. This is exactly why the anti-marriage forces lost this case in the first place.

Photo credit: Fibonacci Blue