Cause for Pride…

Thursday, June 26th, 2003 | Gay Stuff

Over the past year I’ve struggled to find cause to be proud of our country and our actions. Don’t get me wrong – I still feel very lucky to live where I do and have the freedoms I have. But I’ve also been far less than proud of the behavior of our elected officials and our attitudes toward the rest of the world. Lately I’ve seen a trend toward infringing personal liberties and rights, both at home and abroad..

Well today I’m feeling thrilled and proud again:

Supreme Court strikes down Texas sodomy law

In a 6 to 3 vote today the supreme court has found that we have the same right to personal privacy and freedom as everyone else.. For me this case is HUGE and the overwhelming nature of the vote is even more monmumental. The supreme court of our country has found homosexuals have the same right to privacy guaranteed in the US Constitution as every other American. Its as simple as that.

The 3 usual suspects (Scalia, Rehnquist, and Thomas) with Scalia at the helm dissented but that was to be expected. The fact that the other 6 took a stand to protect individual liberties has me dancing in the halls:

The men “are entitled to respect for their private lives,” Kennedy wrote.

“The state cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime,” he said.

(from Yahoo!)

This decision reminds me of the decision years ago overturning Colorado’s Amendment 2 and reminds that our system of checks and balances, while maddening sometimes, overall is a strong and very positive thing. The last lines of the Majority opinion delivered by Justice Kennedy on Amendment 2 were amazing:

We must conclude that Amendment 2 classifies homosexuals not to further a proper legislative end but to make them unequal to everyone else. This Colorado cannot do. A State cannot so deem a class of persons a stranger to its laws. Amendment 2 violates the Equal Protection Clause, and the judgment of the Supreme Court of Colorado is affirmed.

Sometimes…. not always… but some times (and probably most of the time) our system works… and makes me VERY proud to be American – and Pride week in San Francisco couldn’t have been a better week for this to come down… You’d better believe there will be celebration in the streets!

11 Comments to Cause for Pride…

R.J.
June 26, 2003

I love what you had to say here, Pete. The ruling and the way you framed it really point to the level of political genius the founders of this country really had. American democracy may not always be the most representative, but it was a bold experiment and at times like this it shows just how successful they were at crafting an excellent and adaptable system of government.

Pete Steinauer
June 26, 2003

Thanks… I keep being amazed at how well our system keeps things in balance… doesn’t always work but the fact that we have a judicial that is responsible for evening the keel when the nation’s mood swings seem overpowering is pretty impressive… Those guys a couple of hundred years ago were pretty sharp cookies huh? 😉

yb
June 26, 2003

woohoo. I will be screaming like a sissy all weekend long in celebration with you.

Matt
June 26, 2003

What’s just as incredible is that this ruling exposed Scalia for the serious bigot he really is. I am amazed, even as far to the right as he is, that he stooped to the level of unprofessionalism he did by ranting directly from the bench (opinions, especially dissenting ones, are not often delivered while still seated but rather released on paper later) with his hate-filled speech:

“Today’s opinion is the product of a Court, which is the product of a law-profession culture, that has largely signed on to the so-called homosexual agenda…”

This is the justice that Bush has referred to as an example of perfection. If that’s the case, then we have a long fight ahead of us when the next vacancy pops up on the court. They both make me ill.

Trey
June 26, 2003

it is a great day. Momentous really. I’ve always loved our system, felt like I was constantly defending it when I lived in Europe (though I despised the current regime.

Thank God for an independent judiciary protecting us from the tyranny of the majority!

Frenetic Mind
June 26, 2003

One down, a few to go!

Thank you Supreme Court! 6:3 “Equal Standing Before the Law” To Do List 1. Equal rights to our private lives

trey
June 26, 2003

one minute apart :).. yes, Scalia really showed he was a bigot with that dissent. Bush is shown to be a bigot by association (Santorum, Scalia, etc, etc).

You know _we’ll_ be dancing in the streets come Sunday! Canadian marriage, stike down of sodomy laws…. what next? 😉

Pete Steinauer
June 26, 2003

Hey… With any luck even an justice nominee put in place by the current administration will have to be more respectful of civil and constitutional rights for fear of being viewed as a dinosaur like Scalia and not getting the appointment…

I’ll meet y’all for a cocktail tonight! :):)

Joshua
June 27, 2003

It makes me very happy to see people speaking intelligently about U.S. government!

d
June 27, 2003

I have said it before and I’ll say it again….

It is unbelievably insane that federal tax dollars had to be used in this case. How stupid! Not because of the content of the case, but that the country as a whole couldn’t figure this one out on their own…

Thank goodness the Supreme Court could!
-d

Florida Mortgage
November 6, 2004

Florida Mortgage
Mortgage Calculator
Mortgage Calculator
Debt Consolidation
Loan Programs
Mortgage Rates
Commercial Mortgage
Construction Loans
Home Equity Loans
Home Equity Line of Credit
Mortgage Company

http://www.bestlowmortgagerates.com
http://mortgage-calculator.bestlowmortgagerates.com

Categories

Archive

Links

Meta

Search