The Georgia Supreme Court ruled that the stateâs amendment banning anti-gay marriage was struck down, due to âprocedural flawsâ in its wording. Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a fantastic organization, filed the suit.
The judge did acknowledge the right for voters to limit marriage, but said the sweeping lawâwhich banned gay marriage, gay civil unions, and any sort of gay marriage type of thing whatsoever performed in other states donât even think of coming to Georgia with it!âwas worded too broadly:
âPeople who believe marriages between men and women should have a unique and privileged place in our society may also believe that same-sex relationships should have some place, although not marriage,â the judge ruled.
Weâre interested to see if Georgia can get it together and pass another law; obviously, the State of Georgia is NOT going to legalize gay marriage any time soon, but perhaps jaded voters will have given up on this issue after all this time, and rest on the fact that gay marriage is already illegal there and wonât need to amend the state Constitution to rub salt into the wound. And at least the judge seems supportive of a civil union possibility. Weâd like to think this is the start of a trendâthese amendments are ridiculous, and bit by bit theyâll be chipped away, until everyone drops it and focuses on some new issue integral to society, like nuclear bombs in Iran or Save The Penguins or something. Weâll see what happens.
Same-Sex Marriage Amendment Struck Down [NYTimes]
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Xarro
Hi! I’m from Belgium and we managed to get same-sex marriage _and_ adoption, as well as anti-discrimination laws (that are actually enforced). It is not only a good thing for people who want to marry and get kids. It is also a great step towards equality. We’re still second-class citizens (and humans) in the minds of a lot people. But at least the law of our country claims the contrary.
This only highlights how crucial your fight is. Same-sex unions are a first step towards saying: “we have the same right you have, we are as worthy as you are”.
That said, I just wanted to tell you: great weblog. I love it. đ
Jonathon
Guys, I am a native-born Georgian and have lived in this state for practically all of my life. I don’ think that there is a snowball’s chance in hell that Georgia will ever recognize same-sex marriages short of a US Supreme Court decision ordering them to do so. I just spent a very painful 15 minutes on the phone with my state representative who was polite, but very opposed to any notion that gays and lesbians have any civil rights argument to make. His response was generally that “sexual orientation does not make for a protected class” as if somehow I had to be special in order to be able to exercise my human, civil and Constitutional rights. I am a white, male Southerner whose family has lived in this state for generations. There are probably very few people who could call themselves more “Georgian” than myself, yet I have fewer rights than a 16-year-old heterosexual who can marry his/her oppostite-sex partner EVEN THOUGH THEY DON’T OWN PROPERTY, DON’T VOTE AND DON’T PAY TAXES IN THIS STATE!!!!!!!
I am very torn as to what to do. This is my home and where I wish to remain, yet I cannot stay here and be a second-class citizen just because my fellow Georgians are too STUPID, IGNORANT and/or BIGOTED to recognize that my right to marry the partner of my choice is just as valid as their own right to marry an opposite sex partner, divorce them, marry another opposite sex partner, divorce again, then marry yet another opposite sex partner, divorce, etc.
While I appreciate how polite and professional my representative was on the phone with me, I am baffled as to why he cannot understand how very wrong it was to have ever placed the question on the ballot to begin with. It is clear that unless the state wins its appeal of the court decision that a special session of the General Assembly will be called (wasting taxpayer monies) for the sole purpose of drafting another ballot question to be decided this fall – and in the process have a great get-out-the-vote motivator for their Republican base.