All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others

*** Soapbox Alert ***

I don't talk about politics much on this blog. I'd guess that anyone who's been reading a while can figure out that I tend towards more of a liberal bent. But I don't usually feel the need to shout my political opinions to the masses.

So, I don't pull out the old soapbox very often. And you can bet that when I do, it's a topic that I'm passionate about.

If there's one "political" topic that really gets my blood boiling, it's same sex marriage. It stands out as one of the most important topics of our time because it's not about "politics" - it's about upholding one of the most fundamental principles of our government: The ideal that every person is equal under the law.

Today, the Federal Courts will hear an appeal about California's recent Prop 8, which created a legal double-standard in our constitution - one set of rules for homosexuals and one set of rules for heterosexuals.

(It actually also created a third legal class: Homosexuals with marriage rights grandfathered in because of the brief amount of time they were "legal". Hello, Alice. Welcome to the rabbit hole.)

The outcome of this historic federal case will obviously have far-reaching effects, establishing a precedent for whether or not federal Constitutional rights "outrank" state legislation to the contrary.

California has a reputation for leading the socially liberal charge. But, as I've mentioned before, our state is actually deeply divided on many such issues. The Coastal and urban Southern parts of the state do tend to be very liberal. But the Central and Northern parts of the state - especially the more rural agricultural areas - are as conservative as the rest of the bread basket states.

I have never been so hyper-aware of the fact that I am a speck of blue in a sea of red until the political campaigns surrounding Prop 8 started hitting the streets. My "No on 8" yard sign felt like a sad and lonely little flag of defiance.

But I didn't give up hope. I had naive faith that right would prevail. I simply could not believe that our system could fail so catastrophically that a situation could be created in which citizens could strip rights from other citizens with no overwhelming cause. It was too Orwellian to be true.

And then Prop 8 passed.

And I thought, well, it will be overturned on appeal. That's why we have checks and balances built into our governance - to catch these abuses of power and right these wrongs. Surely it cannot be "legal" to uphold such a clear "separate but equal" end-run around equal rights?

And then Prop 8 was upheld.

Today, I want to have faith that reasonable people taking a unbiased look at the facts will have no choice but to conclude that Prop 8 is a clear violation of the legal - the inalienable - rights granted by our federal constitution that all citizens are equal under that law.

The rights set forth in our Constitution seem so simple; we sometimes take them for granted now. But, for our founding fathers, it was a paradigm-changing philosophy that set their fledgling constitutional republic apart as a nation of new ideals.

We have, as a nation, not always lived up to those ideals of equality. But we've been moving the right direction - slowly but surely - throughout our history. Socially, each generation has learned to be just a little more compassionate and tolerant than the last. Legally, the precedents over the last 200 years have been building a ladder toward that high-minded ideal set forth by our founding fathers so long ago.

And today, the Courts will hear a case that could throw us back down to the bottom rung.

I have to believe that the Justices in this case will see this equal rights setback for what it is.

I'm holding onto that hope. Because the alternative is too frustrating and frightening to consider.

Because if the "majority" of voters can decide that a whole class of people can be denied equal treatment under the law - in any form - then who or what will be on the chopping block next?


They first came for the communists, 
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the Jews, 
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics, 
I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak up. 



[Post title: Animal Farm by George Orwell]