Washington Courts Say No

Andrew, the eternal optimist, seems able to find the bright side of things more easily than I can these days. Rather than lingering (due in part to the fact that he had not yet had a chance to read the decision himself) on the Washington court’s recent decision to uphold the ban on gay marriage, he looks to the state of New York and Eliot Spitzer to find any semblance of hope in the bigger picture.

In the first governor's campaign debate on Tuesday night, Eliot Spitzer and Tom Suozzi clashed on several issues, one of them gay marriage.

Spitzer:

I think same sex marriage should be legal. I will propose a bill to permit that to be the case in the state of New York.

To which Andrew responds:

And so the courts begin to retreat and the legislative process gains ground. Recall that the most populous state in the country has already passed marriage equality in its legislature. In some ways, a court pause before a looming legislative triumph may be good news.

I can only hope that Andrew is right. He makes me ashamed of myself. He has dealt with this fight for equality his whole life, whereas I am a relative newcomer and to some extent just a spectator. I have not only never been singled out and discriminated against for something over which I have no control, but I probably would never have taken these legislative and court battles so personally if I had never learned that I had a dog, errr, a son in the fight.

I guess it is time for me to stop looking for instant gratification. It is not going to happen. This is obviously an issue that cannot and should not be shoved down people’s throats. My hope is that each small victory will pave the way for bigger ones and as people see that the world and their marriages are not ending because gay couples are allowed to marry, most fair Americans will soften and even reverse their previously held reservations about this issue.