[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: A Winding Path to Gay Marriage

[michael at intrafi.com]

The article below from NYTimes.com 
has been sent to you by michael at intrafi.com.



/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight ------------\

GARDEN STATE: NOW PLAYING IN SELECT THEATERS

GARDEN STATE stars Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard
and Ian Holm.  NEWSWEEK's David Ansen says "Writer-Director Zach
Braff has a genuine filmmaker's eye and is loaded with talent."
Watch the teaser trailer that has all of America buzzing and
talk back with Zach Braff on the Garden State Blog at:

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/gardenstate/index_nyt.html

\----------------------------------------------------------/


A Winding Path to Gay Marriage

August 14, 2004
 


 

The distress of gay and lesbian couples was understandable
in San Francisco when the California Supreme Court voided
4,000 same-sex marriages. But the court's reasoning, in
finding that Mayor Gavin Newsom had overstepped his
authority, was understandable as well. We agree with its
reasoning on this narrow question of mayoral powers. We
also sympathize with the affected couples and hope for a
happier outcome on the far more substantive challenge, now
working its way through the courts, of whether state law is
unconstitutional in limiting marriage to a union of a man
and a woman. 

This week's decision found that a mayor could not be
allowed to pick and choose among the array of state laws,
deeming some not worthy of enforcement. Nor, the court
carefully hypothesized, may a mayor accede to constituents'
counterpressures by ignoring the limited domestic-partner
protections already on the books to benefit gay couples.
Should the state ban on gay marriages be judicially
overturned as unconstitutional, same-sex couples would then
be free to enter valid marriages, the court emphasized. 

The ruling was only an early step in a civil rights
tradition: a testing of a questionable law by a public
official and citizens. Mayor Newsom had already honored a
preliminary injunction against officiating at more gay
marriages while the courts took up the challenge. Even as
President Bush and other opponents try to make a simplistic
campaign issue of opposing gay marriage, the road toward
greater fairness is already being mapped in the 50 states. 

The San Francisco decision - which somehow drew no new
conservative outcries against "activist judges" - should be
seen as but a bump on the way to progress. Just as
California was the first state to strike down its own laws
against interracial marriage, we expect that it will
ultimately find a constitutional basis for the human right
to same-sex marriage. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/14/opinion/14sat2.html?ex=1093510162&ei=1&en=2c86066d9705a96b


---------------------------------

Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine
reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like!
Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy
now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here:

http://homedelivery.nytimes.com/HDS/SubscriptionT1.do?mode=SubscriptionT1&ExternalMediaCode=W24AF



HOW TO ADVERTISE
---------------------------------
For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters 
or other creative advertising opportunities with The 
New York Times on the Web, please contact
onlinesales at nytimes.com or visit our online media 
kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo

For general information about NYTimes.com, write to 
help at nytimes.com.  

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company