[smc]

As soon as the decision to challenge the Prop 8 vote in court was announced, I expected this outcome, because the court case was based exclusively on the "merits" of California's system of having citizen ballot propositions, and not on the "merits" of a civil rights issue. I'm sure the plaintiffs knew what they were up against, and in some ways I think it might have been better not to pursue remedy in the courts but rather to seek a referendum repeal of Prop 8.

I say this because the court ruling -- although it absolutely does not decide on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage -- will be seen as a feather in the cap of those who want to limit marriage rights. In the face of what is happening here in New England, where I live, those forces are looking for any positive news they can use to rally their hateful troops.

Had the anti-Prop 8 forces organized immediately to overturn Prop 8 via referendum, through a signature campaign that had them speaking with people all throughout California, it might well have been a better expenditure of energy and campaign funds.

According to newspaper reports I have read here in Boston, one of the things that convinced legislators in Maine to approve same-sex marriage was that they met lots of same-sex married couples from Massachusetts who, in their very "ordinariness," put to rest the notion in these legislators' heads that passing such a law would topple hetero marriage as an institution. This is a story that is repeated throughout the country. In Massachusetts, we have devout Catholic legislators who changed their mind on same-sex marriage because they met neighbor couples against whose civil rights they could then not bring themselves to vote. At the state level, legislators are typically just like regular people. Imagine the 18,000 same-sex married couples in California fanning out around the state to talk to people, calmly and rationally, while gathering signatures for a new proposition. In concert with other efforts, it could have quite an effect.

Just my two cents ... on a sad day when good friends of mine who live in California are feeling very, very low.