March 11, 2004
MANY CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND
We must use the courts to change marriage law (Ron Sims, Seattle Times, 11/03/04)
On Monday, March 8, at 8:30 a.m., I opened the doors at the King County licensing counter to six loving same-sex couples courageously seeking marriage equality. Although I could not issue them licenses, I worked with these couples, the Northwest Women's Law Center and Lambda Legal Defense to file suit in King County Superior Court for the marriage rights denied to them.Why did I choose the judicial path to equality? Because we must use the law to change the law. [...]
The Book of Common Prayer says matrimony is a holy and honorable estate, and "therefore not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly; but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God."
We must discuss the definition of marriage with the same reverence, discretion, sober thought and prayer. [...]
Last month, I visited the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. As I stood at Lincoln's feet, in the quiet of that hushed marble chamber, I reflected on the greatness of this man and his immortal words.
Lincoln fought to protect the ideals of "a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." The echo of Lincoln's words reverberates through time as every generation answers each new call for justice and equality.
Lincoln struggled to keep the Union from falling apart, while we struggle today with how a different kind of union will come together. [...]
In 1963, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "The time is always right to do what is right."
Even the crustiest of conservatives can be grateful for some of history’s great liberal victories. Civil rights, the legal equality of women and the American Revolution were all triumphs of individual liberty over privilege and tradition, and few today would claim we are not better off for them. But the classical argument that underlay these triumphs has become a template that people with huge senses of entitlement and petty grievance impose unthinkingly on just about any issue that strikes their fancy. Although they may have mastered the words of Locke and Lincoln, they actually resemble Ortega Y Gasset’s menacing masses.
Rev. Sims calls for a reverent, sober discussion of marriage, but that is really the last thing he wants. What he wants is to appropriate the rhetoric of history’s great liberators without further ado, declare as self-evident that he is following their paths and then dare anyone to challenge him as he attempts to sidestep the democratic process. Gay marriage need not be debated. Why debate with the political heirs of slave holders? Just invoke Lincoln, shout them down as ugly homophobes and move on to...wherever.
Midge Dector wrote a few years ago that our secular, atomistic society is slowly driving us all insane. Evidence of this is how the widespread rage against tradition and religious influence is growing, not waning, as they recede from public life. It is weird to witness the mundane causes modern liberals will latch onto passionately and how easily they can be convinced that a struggle for immediate sensual and emotional gratification is akin to the abolition of slavery. One can only imagine King’s and Lincoln’s ghosts looking on with bewilderment at seeing their names invoked in the glorious struggles for unrestrained sexual pleasure and fast food restaurants that never close.
But if we don't annihilate the oppressors, I won't be able to get my Chick-Fil-a when I want it! I might have to skip lunch, or, worse, EAT SOMEWHERE ELSE!
Posted by: Paul Cella at March 11, 2004 8:45 AMPaul:
I know. We force them to shut down the Inquisition and they just develop new methods of torture.
Posted by: Peter B at March 11, 2004 9:14 AMO.J.,
The great civil rights victories you speak of
actually unleashed an egalitarian revolution that
has been quite destructive to the notion of
tradition and free association.
We are going insane because our children are being
taught that moral is immoral (and immoral is moral), that all cultures are equally good.
The atomistic nature of modern life is the coping
mechanism of a dying (defeated?) culture (not the cause of)
One of the many things I treasure about the blog is the chance to feel like a moderate optimist. Not that actually being either of those things would be good, but the feeling is novel.
Posted by: David Cohen at March 11, 2004 10:03 AMI was thinking something similar just today. Now I don't have to blog it all myself.
Posted by: JonasParker at March 11, 2004 10:40 AMJust a note-- Sims is in no way, shape or form a Rev. He's an opportunistic politician with a sky-high ambition. This sort of thing gets him real popular with the Green and Red set in Seattle.
Posted by: Timothy at March 11, 2004 11:17 AMHeard a soundbite recently by an gay activist which captures a certain mindset:
"The courts will succeed where the law has failed."
Posted by: Rick T. at March 11, 2004 11:43 AM(The other) Timothy beat me to it, but:
I don't remember if Mr. Sims is running for Governor this election (pleeeease spare me the Rev. stuff, that's a hobby; he's a professional politician, currently King County [Seattle] chief exec), but I suspect that even in the 'Soviet of Washington', he's just ruined any chance he might have had of winning a statewide election.
Jim Miller raises an interesting point that the places in the US most likely to support homosexual marriage are also those places with lowest birth-rates. Maybe if the thought-police can just be prevented from actively preaching the 'benefits' of homosexuality, the drive for homosexual marriage may be a self-limiting problem as they will breed themselves out of existence. Just a thought, I'm not holding my breath.
Posted by: TimF at March 11, 2004 11:46 AMWhen I moved here to the Upper Left Washington ten years ago, King County councilman Ron Sims was the Dems sacrifice against Slade Gorton for Senate. After Gary Locke moved up to Gov, Sims took over his job. I've never heard of him, ever, being refered to as "Rev." It's always "King County Exec"
I thought he wanted to continue follow Locke's path to the top, but while this might help him in a Dem primary where Seattle votes are necessary for victory, I can't possbily see how his wanting to play "follow the leader" to an issue coming up from the south will help him in the general election.
(And did you know that around 1980, (exact date escapes me) the county was renamed for MLKing, Jr. Its original name was King Country, named for William Devane King, Franklin Pierce's VP. At least that bit of moral exhibitionism was cheap.)
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at March 11, 2004 12:17 PMIf rich purveyors of chicken sandwiches can be a protected class, who can't?
Posted by: Harry Eagar at March 11, 2004 12:48 PMPeter & Paul,
Now you're invoking Ortega y Gasset's apocalyptic masses to explain three cranky guys with a hunger for chicken. Jeez! My interest in the topic expired when that story scrolled off of the bottom of the blog, but it obviously made a searing impression on you. Maybe you guys are going slowly insane, I'm doing just fine, thanks.
David, I'm glad I'm not the only one to notice the whiff of abject pessimism on this board. It doesn't take much to make this group dash for the bunkers.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at March 11, 2004 1:16 PMProtected from what, Harry, the righteous indignation of hungry Atheist travelers? Calm down and have a taco instead . . .
Posted by: jefferson park at March 11, 2004 1:31 PMPaul, Jefferson:
I would have thought religionists would be fairly familiar with the "holier than thou."
And that pointing one out wouldn't be cause for opprobrium, just becuase some areligionists happened to be doing it.
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at March 11, 2004 3:49 PMRobert:
My mother swears my first words were: "The Horror!"
Posted by: Peter B at March 11, 2004 4:05 PMTell me, jefferson, if I offered to take a franchise at the local airport but said, "Sorry, I can't be open every day, I need time off to inspect my navel," would I get a lease?
Obviously, not.
Being a Christian gets you preferential treatment.
A protected class.
This is the true (but perhaps not the only) form of class warfare today.
The concept of protected classes was manageable when there were just a few of them -- ex-slaves, later blacks, children, widows and orphans.
Now everybody is free to invent a class -- without demonstrating either that it really is a class or, if it is, it deserves protecting -- and claim civil rights.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at March 11, 2004 4:06 PM> Tell me, jefferson, if I offered to take a franchise at the local airport but said, "Sorry, I can't be open every day, I need time off to inspect my navel," would I get a lease?
No, because I would offer a higher bid to lease that space for my "Booger Burger" franchise. Some critics say that no one in his right mind would want a booger burger. But I guarantee they will be available every day of the week.
Posted by: Guy T. at March 11, 2004 5:25 PM"My mother swears my first words were: "The Horror!" "
No doubt! I'm sure OJ's were "burn them!".
Posted by: Robert Duquette at March 11, 2004 9:25 PMRobert:
And yours were undoubtedly: "It is all without purpose."
Posted by: Peter B at March 11, 2004 9:40 PMActually, it was more like "can't I sleep a little longer?". I was a month overdue.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at March 12, 2004 1:00 AM