November 13, 2008

In the aftermath of the recent election the media, along with the rest of the society, are scrambling to make sense of it all.  This has led to some interesting approaches and news stories.  I recently was asked by TIME magazine and The Wall Street Journal to comment on the issues of same-sex marriage and abortion in the aftermath of November 4.

Michael Lindenberger of TIME wanted to talk about what the election meant for the issue of same-sex marriage.  His questions came right after proponents of gay marriage, stung by their defeat on California's Proposition 8 vote, appealed to the court to overturn the amendment.

He reported:

The request is directed at the same court that in May issued one of the most sweeping declarations of fundamental gay rights in U.S. legal history, making same-sex marriage legal by a 4-3 vote. The Republican-dominated court could decide by the end of this week whether to rule on the request for a stay or send it to a lower court first. But whatever the merits of the legal challenge, the court will face enormous pressure as it deliberates.

"If the California Supreme Court were to issue a ruling that would invalidate the will of the people, the consequences for the court would be momentous," the Rev. Albert Mohler told TIME over the weekend. Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and one of the nation's leading Evangelical voices, called such a "usurpation" hard to fathom. Imagine, he said, how much more controversial Roe v. Wade would be now had the court issued the decision after more than half the states had held statewide elections on the issue. "Tuesday's rulings have made it much more costly for any court to reach a conclusion in favor of gay marriage," he said.

I stand by that statement.  The California Supreme Court is expected to respond to the question within the week, and that will tell us a great deal about where this issue now goes in California.

In a fascinating twist, Lindenberger reports that some gay rights activists now want the issue to be dropped in favor of other priorities.  He reported on a phone call that included more than 100 activists and legal scholars who support same-sex marriage.  "The mood was dour," he revealed.  But this is the really interesting part of this section of his article:

Longtime gay rights advocate Dean Trantalis of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and others on the conference call expressed concern that the gay rights movement had become too focused on marriage, and is now paying the price in other more critical areas. "Marriage was never our issue," Trantalis said. "It was thrust upon us by the other side, and they've done a very good job of beating us up over it.