Culture War Won’t Stop Ending!

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Could California’s gay marriage mean the end of the Culture War?

We think it began ending after Larry Craig’s arrest, but The Nation‘s Richard Kim thinks the big bang came last week. And, despite what the right wing says, California’s Supreme Court merely upheld legislative will, rather than legislating on their own accord:

In 2005 and 2007 the California State Legislature passed bills granting gays and lesbians the right to marry; on both occasions, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the bills. But by directly expressing their support for gay marriage through the democratic process, the State Legislature undercut the right-wing claim that gay marriage is something “activist judges” foist onto an unwilling public. Indeed, the majority on the state’s Supreme Court, comprising three Republicans and one Democrat, weren’t “legislating from the bench”; they were reaffirming legislative will. And despite his vetoes, Schwarzenegger has said that he respects the court’s opinion and opposes an amendment to the California Constitution, something he calls “a waste of time.”

The same-sex shift in California, Kim argues, can only bring good things to the Democrats. That’s an understandable argument, but it would be even more true if the Democrats and the Republicans differed on gay marriage, which they don’t.

The decision is even better because social conservatives are calling on McCain to take a tougher stand against gay marriage, but he can’t, which means this voting bloc may give up on him entirely. And that’s what would be good for the Democrats come November.

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