This originally came from gay news blog. It's midnite, bedtime. I'm not going to dissect this article and what I believe are the legal ramifications. First of all, I'm not a supreme expert, and second I'm tired and cranky. However, I think it deserves mention because these legally married New York Gay people have literally thrown a big rock at the glass wall of DOMA and other legal rulings barring gay marriage, causing a big legal crack which can be taken advantage of.
BOSTON, May 15 — A little-noticed resolution to a case involving same-sex couples from New York will allow dozens of them to be considered legally married in Massachusetts, and apparently in their home state as well.
Okay, so what the hell am I talking about? Right? I said I wasn't going to analyze this.
How does policy change happen in the US? 1) The big 3: legislature, executive and judiciary. 2) Elections (direct, referendum). 3) Loopholes.
A little bit shocked by that "loopholes" statement, aren't you? I can't get into the specifics because I don't have all the research, and like I said I'm a little bit tired. But basically when all the marriage laws were written, nobody on "god's green earth" would ever have believed that two men would ever try to get married. It was just a basic assumption. Hell,
we homos were illegal in most states until the Supreme Court ruling in 2003. To most, it would have been like saying a 59 year old man could marry his 5 year old niece. Well, times have changed, and the 21st century has seen nearly every state in the union try to stop gay marriage -- they're all scrambling to write laws and to get judges and voters on their side.
Well, this case, which is detailed in
this New York Times article, is not outright saying that the wall is coming down, but it was based on a legal loophole and it will, in time, I fully believe, provide a legal loophole that will allow gay marriage in all 50 states.
How, you ask? Oh, shit, I said I was tired and I don't want to analyze this. Well, let me summarize it. The court made its ruling and said specifically that the people in New York who went to Massachusetts to get married could remain legally married in their
home state of New York but only if they got their marriage licenses between the period of time when Massachusetts began allowing gay marriage and the ruling of the appeals court decided that such marriages were not transferable outside of Massachusetts.
Stay with me. I'm tired.
New York does not have a legal ban on gay marriage. The New York Appeals Court decided that gay marriage is not a legal right in their state, however, there is no specific ban or right granted, which means the door is open. Someone either has to shut the door or blow it open. But this ruling, barely picked up in the media (even the gay media), I believe, will swing the door wide open.
Those marriages are also expected to be considered legal in New York. John Milgrim, a spokesman for the office of that state’s attorney general, said, “Since 2004 it has been the position of the attorney general’s office that New York law presumptively requires the recognition of marriages validly performed in other jurisdictions.”
So a few gay people got marriage licenses in Massachusetts, they're from New York, and their marriages are legal in both states? Correct me if I'm wrong, but if those licenses are legal in New York state, then what about the gay people from ... Oh, I dunno, Nebraska who got married in Massachusetts? Nebraska has an actual law banning gay marriage.
Well who cares, right? Nebraska is a state, it has rights, it can ban homos if it wants to.
That is open to interpretation by the judicial system. So what happens when a couple who got married between these two "dates" sues the state of Nebraska because their marriage licenses are legal? Well, I think a Federal circuit court picks up the case, reviews the Massachusetts findings, then checks the DOMA (
Defense of Marriage Act). It rules against the gay couple, because of DOMA. The couples appeal on the grounds that the Full Faith and Credit clause of the Constitution is violated by DOMA. Appeals, rulings, appeals, rulings. At some point, the case reaches the US Supreme Court. The Supreme Court seriously looks at DOMA (as it has declined to do in the past) and rules that yes, indeed, Congress did overstep its authority and rules it as unconsitutional.
This is why it's so important for the right wing to pass a Constitutional Amendment (it'll never happen, IMHO). They know the only way they can possible make DOMA hold up is if the US Supreme Court cannot test its constitutionality. The only way the US Supreme court cannot test its constitutionality is if it is consitutional, meaning an amendment!
Okay, so I wasn't going to analyze, and I did it anyway. Sorry. I'm not a lawyer, this is basically opinion. But mark my words, the whole house of cards is going to come crumbling down because of this one ruling. Remember, folks, gay marriage is not a moral issue, it's a civil and social issue. Don't let anybody tell you that you don't have the right to love. You can buy porn, cigarettes, alcohol -- you can enter into legal contracts which have the effect of marriage -- you can work, you can pay taxes -- you can have sex with any consenting adult. The right wingers like to group gay marriage in with "polygamy" and other such nonsense. Polygamy is a one state (more or less) issue. Gay people are a 50 state issue. We live everywhere. We are a countable, predicable ratio in every population. It's not an aberration. Gay people are normal -- every walk of life, every job sector, every career path, every school, every business, every office, every profession, every race, color, creed, religion, background, nation of origin -- you name it we are there. They cannot deny us, and they cannot kill us or beat us or oppress us with "morality" any longer. The Supreme Court already decided the morality issue in our bedrooms, now what about the wedding chapels? Get god out of government. Really. Not just kinda. All the fucking way. Thanks!
End of soap box. Back to ... Not analyzing? Mark my words, the wall will come crumbling down because of this ruling.