South Africa (OF ALL PLACES) has legalized same-sex marriage (IIRC). I really think the populace will need to appeal to SCOTUS to obtain any results on gay rights.
(Which interestingly, in our society, is where we turn to in order to get anything major done. Legislators seem mostly paralyzed by the constant infighting).
It's toxic, it's polarizing, and for votes sake, Obama's probably not touching it.
State sanctioned subordination of certain classes should be frowned upon. But we do it to immigrants, homosexuals, and other classes who lack (for the most part) political participation.
The reason why I pointed out South Africa was because their highest court had a particularly poignant paragraph about gays and their exclusion:
Quote:
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[The exclusion of same sex couples from marriage] represents a harsh if oblique statement by the law that same-sex couples are outsiders, and that their need for affirmation and protection of their intimate relations as human beings is somehow less than that of heterosexual couples. It reinforces the wounding notion that they are to be treated as biological oddities, as failed or lapsed human beings who do not fit in to normal society, and, as such do not qualify for the full moral concern and respect that our Constitution seeks to secure for everyone. It signifies that their capacity for love, commitment and accepting responsibility is by definition less worthy of regard than that of heterosexual couples.
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So uh, where was the hope you promised us?
