Gay marriage on a roll: first California, now Mexico City

Hard on the heels of Federal Judge Vaughn Walker decision that California's homophobic anti-gay marriage Prop 8 is uncon- stitutional, Mexico's Supreme Court has upheld Mexico City's allowance of gay and lesbian marriage:

(Reuters) -Mexico's supreme court on Thursday upheld a landmark law that allows gay marriage in the capital city, bucking a challenge raised by the conservative government of President Felipe Calderon.

(for complete Reuters article)

People who are upset by these decisions to recognize the civil rights of lesbians and gay men tend to talk about disrespect "for people's moral sensibilities." As does The National Review's Rich Lowry in today's (Fri) New York Post. Much the same arguments were, of course, used in the 20th century in defense of "white racial sensibilities."

I have tried to make sense of the claim that the marriage of lesbians and gay men will somehow "hurt the institution of marriage." Not only does this argument seem to make no sense in its own right, but from all available evidence heterosexuals seem to be undermining marriage quite well without any help from lesbians and gay men. The statistics with regard to divorce and infidelity among heterosexuals indicates that marriage - which was once a sacred contract between two people - is now much more something to be tossed away at their convenience.

Which brings me to one last thought: Newt Gingrich. The former House Speaker seems to be the go-to-guy for the opposition to gay and lesbian marriage. Wednesday evening he released the following statement on his web site:

Judge Walker's ruling overturning Prop 8 is an outrageous disrespect for our Constitution and for the majority of people of the United States who believe marriage is the union of husband and wife. In every state of the union from California to Maine to Georgia, where the people have had a chance to vote they've affirmed that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Congress now has the responsibility to act immediately to reaffirm marriage as a union of one man and one woman as our national policy.

Today’s notorious decision also underscores the importance of the Senate vote tomorrow on the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court because judges who oppose the American people are a growing threat to our society.

In addition to the fact that the Senate voted yesterday (Thursday) to confirm this "UnAmerican threat to our society" to the Supreme Court, it might be worth remembering why Gingrich is the former Speaker of the House.

This defender of "traditional " marriage mores, according to ABC News in 2007:

Setting the stage for his entry into the presidential race, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., gave a radio interview to be broadcast today with Focus on the Family's James Dobson, in which Gingrich for the first time publicly acknowledged cheating on his first and second wives.

All I can say to the defenders of exclusively heterosexual marriage, "with friends like Gingrich you really don't need any enemies."

Was Prop 8 really passed?

While the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and its allies are protesting the passage of Prop. 8 both in the courts and in the streets, a new possibility has emerged: maybe it didn't pass after all. According to NYU professor Mark Crispin Miller, a leading expert on election fraud:

... an accurate count of the votes may not yet have occurred, according to early indications.

This conclusion is based on a discrepancy between exit polls and the official vote count. He ties this particular possible stolen election with a much broader problem:

the entire apparatus of computerized voting in this country--the e-voting machines and op-scans and central tabulators, etc.--is largely owned by members of the Christianist far right.

Diebold and ES&S were both begun by Bob and Todd Urosevich, two ardent Oklahoma theocrats, while Triad, which makes the central vote tabulators used in Ohio in 2004, is owned by the Rapp family. SmartTech, the company that helped Bush/Cheney steal that state, is owned by evangelical Jeff Averbeck; and his associate Mike Connell, owner of GovTech Solutions, which also helped to steal Ohio, among other races, was motivated to such work by his desire "to save the babies," according to Stephen Spoonamore.

As we saw from the recent presidential election, the vote has to be close in order for it to be stolen. If it's a blowout the machines do what they are supposed to do or at least can't do any harm.

We'll continue to keep an eye on developments in the Prop #8 vote.