Equality, Yes or No?

Q: What stops a state from putting a referendum on the ballot which, if passed, would alter the state constitution to prohibit interracial marriage?

A: The courts. Such legislation would be ruled unconstitutional, in clear violation of our bedrock principle of equality.

Q: What stops a state from putting a referendum on the ballot which, if passed, would prohibit same-sex marriage?

A: Nothing. It is not clear that our courts recognize gay and lesbian Americans as human beings.


Until our "justice" system gets this equality no-brainer right, perhaps we should refrain from recognizing certain Judges as human. Or at least, as people who can apply logic and common sense to the administration of justice without prejudice, superstition or hypocrisy.

Attempts to prohibit interracial marriage in the nineteenth century seem grotesquely absurd today. And a century from now, people will view current attempts to prohibit gay marriage the same way.

Those who contend that marriage is fixed and unchanging haven't studied history. For centuries, in many parts of the world, marriages were arranged and had nothing to do with romantic love as we have come to define it and cherish it in the West. Many societies were built around polygamy, and some still encourage plural marriage today. In present-day Bhutan, not only may a man take more than one wife, but a woman may take more than one husband. Even in America, thousands of plural marriages hide in plain sight.

During some periods of history, middle-aged men married teenage women because teenage men, as a general rule, could not afford to support a family. In other periods, it was commonplace for thirteen and fourteen year-olds to marry each other. And so on.

The nature, format and definition of marriage have been in constant flux since the beginning of recorded history. Those who want to deny this fact are wasting their time, and the future will prove them wrong when it comes to same-sex marriage as well. They may be aided by our current Supreme Court, stuffed by George W. Bush with ideological activists diguised as judges. But eventually, if America and the Constitution stand for anything, they stand for liberty. And thus, trying to prohibit same sex marriage is about as unequal and un-American as you can get.

- JT Compton
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