Comments on: New Jersey Gay Marriage Decision http://www.davejustus.com/2006/10/26/new-jersey-gay-marriage-decision/ None Sine Causa Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:31:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Dave Justus http://www.davejustus.com/2006/10/26/new-jersey-gay-marriage-decision/#comment-4648 Dave Justus Fri, 27 Oct 2006 14:11:30 +0000 http://www.davejustus.com/2006/10/26/new-jersey-gay-marriage-decision/#comment-4648 I agree Bob, those who think civil rights was won through court battles are mistaken, society had already moved that way, and the court battles just brought a few outliers into line. I recently saw a you-tube of a pro-gay marriage commercial that I thought was very effective, and the kind of thing that will change a lot of minds. It featured a lesbian policewoman who was dying of cancer and whose partner won't get her pension because she isn't married. I think a lot of people who don't really like 'the gays' would stop and think more about the issue after seeing that. If gay rights advocates spent more time on that sort of thing rather than court battles, I think their cause would advance faster. I agree Bob, those who think civil rights was won through court battles are mistaken, society had already moved that way, and the court battles just brought a few outliers into line.

I recently saw a you-tube of a pro-gay marriage commercial that I thought was very effective, and the kind of thing that will change a lot of minds. It featured a lesbian policewoman who was dying of cancer and whose partner won’t get her pension because she isn’t married. I think a lot of people who don’t really like ‘the gays’ would stop and think more about the issue after seeing that.

If gay rights advocates spent more time on that sort of thing rather than court battles, I think their cause would advance faster.

]]> By: Bob Morris http://www.davejustus.com/2006/10/26/new-jersey-gay-marriage-decision/#comment-4640 Bob Morris Thu, 26 Oct 2006 21:14:34 +0000 http://www.davejustus.com/2006/10/26/new-jersey-gay-marriage-decision/#comment-4640 Just a history perspective that may or may not come true in this situation. I researched background on the civil rights movement for blacks back in the 1960s to see some of the factors that led to the movement gaining momentum. Obviously, the Supreme Court decisions that segregation in schools and public buses were unconstitutional played a role, and President Eisenhower, despite his disagreement with the school ruling, did enforce it when one school refused to comply with the Court's order to end segregation "with all deliberate speed." It really wasn't until the various protests that the movement really gained momentum, though. I didn't find any other Court decisions at the time that affected private businesses which practiced segregation, but the protests and public pressure sure did (how said pressure came about is a story unto itself, in which many whites initially didn't really support what blacks were after, until children marching in protest were treated harshly by police). With gay marriage, I don't think a Court decision of any kind is going to resolve anything. I don't think we'll see a situation similar to what happened in the black civil rights movement that changes opinion, though. What I believe it's going to take to make people realize how the government has essentially recognized marriage as being an integral part of issues such as taxation, inheritance, insurance and others that impact just about everybody in this country, and that, marriage is not simply an issue of religion (although I would favor allowing religious institutes who do not support gay marriage to have the right to refuse to perform ceremonies in their churches), procreation or other such arguments used as to why gay marriage shouldn't be allowed. Just a history perspective that may or may not come true in this situation.

I researched background on the civil rights movement for blacks back in the 1960s to see some of the factors that led to the movement gaining momentum.

Obviously, the Supreme Court decisions that segregation in schools and public buses were unconstitutional played a role, and President Eisenhower, despite his disagreement with the school ruling, did enforce it when one school refused to comply with the Court’s order to end segregation “with all deliberate speed.”

It really wasn’t until the various protests that the movement really gained momentum, though. I didn’t find any other Court decisions at the time that affected private businesses which practiced segregation, but the protests and public pressure sure did (how said pressure came about is a story unto itself, in which many whites initially didn’t really support what blacks were after, until children marching in protest were treated harshly by police).

With gay marriage, I don’t think a Court decision of any kind is going to resolve anything. I don’t think we’ll see a situation similar to what happened in the black civil rights movement that changes opinion, though.

What I believe it’s going to take to make people realize how the government has essentially recognized marriage as being an integral part of issues such as taxation, inheritance, insurance and others that impact just about everybody in this country, and that, marriage is not simply an issue of religion (although I would favor allowing religious institutes who do not support gay marriage to have the right to refuse to perform ceremonies in their churches), procreation or other such arguments used as to why gay marriage shouldn’t be allowed.

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