New Jersey’s Supreme Court decision on gay marriage – Best bad news James Dobson could hope for!

I cannot believe it! Finally a court courageous enough to make the right decision and all I can feel is despair, disappointment, and disgust. I knew this decision was coming down and I knew it was coming before the elections and I’ve been dreading it. Why? Because I knew that no matter what the court decided, it would somehow be manipulated to provide the perfect kindling that George Bush and his band of sorry losers needed to reignite a fire I’d hoped had long ago lost fuel. And as I’d anticipated, the news was grabbed by greedy opportunists like manna from heaven. And alas, just as I suspected it would, it has served to reawaken the most un-American and most un-Christian sentiments hidden under the carefully crafted guise of Christianity and Family Values, concepts essentially cheapened and devalued until they’ve become nothing more than a renewed call to arms for those who hide under a tattered bible while spewing their hate.

So what should have been good news has only tied my stomach in knots and left me trying to understand once again why in this great country in 2006, our President believes mob rule should determine what rights minorities are and are not entitled to. I never thought good news could hurt so much. And I never thought the word Christianity could be so badly mangled and twisted that for some people it is now synonymous with hate and bigotry. What a cruel and bitter irony.

Here are reactions from all over the spectrum.

The Washington Post:

The New Jersey court decision that gay couples are entitled to the same rights as heterosexual couples was bad news for social conservatives -- the bad news they were hoping for.

Andrew Sullivan:

I agree with Chris Crain. Moderation and patience are now what the gay movement needs. Not absolutism. We're winning the argument. So why demand total victory now when reasonable people, uncomfortable with marriage, can give us so much so soon, short of full marriage equality. Are we that impatient?

John Cole:

Twelve hours have passed since the NJ decision regarding civil unions, and my parents are still married and I can’t marry my cat. WTF?

Andrew Olmsted, a Major in the United States Army Reserve currently serving on Active Duty in the United States:

But, despite my reservations about courts going too far and the possibility of bad second-order effects, it's hard not to be a little happy for thousands of gay couples who've just had a door opened to them.

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council:

"I have to think there are Democratic strategists out there thinking the words of the old Japanese admiral: 'I fear all we've done is wake a sleeping giant. They were coasting into an election with a Republican base with dampened enthusiasm. This brings it all back home to the base, what this election is about."

Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry:

"They attack gay people when the sun rises, and they attack gay people when the sun sets, so no matter what the court had done in New Jersey, they would have said Americans need to shift their attention from the real threats to our country to the alleged threat from gay couples seeking to settle down."

Pat Buchanan (of the New Jersey Judges):

Such judges need to be defied and they need to be impeached. Not obeyed.

The Wall Street Journal (in an article titled The Hitch, By DARREN R. SPEDALE and WILLIAM N. ESKRIDGE JR., dated October 27, 2006; Page A14) speaking of Scandinavian countries where gay marriage has been legal for years (by subscription – no link):

Rather than scapegoating gay couples as the attackers from which marriage needs "defending," pundits and politicians alike should look to no-fault divorce, prenuptial agreements and legal recognition of heterosexual cohabitation as the real culprits of weakened marriage. As the evidence indicates, societies where gay couples have the rights of marriage seem to be doing just fine.

And let me end this post with a reminder of what a big hypocrite and political opportunist our President is (not that at this point anyone needs to be reminded). This is a clip from two years ago of George W. Bush essentially agreeing with the New Jersey Supreme Court’s recent decision. So you’d think he’d be going on record praising this decision now – right? Well actually no, he made these comments when there was no election around the corner and essentially no political risks to being a decent human being, but now that his Party’s hold on power is on the line, it is time to go back into political monster mode and reach out to the dregs of his party and appeal to the basest of their emotions, it’s time to throw the gays and lesbians under the bus --- again.

George Bush in 2004: