GOODRIDGE: LINKALICIOUS (posted by Eve)

The New Republic is starting a debate on Goodridge between SSM proponent Jonathan Rauch and I-think-also-SSM-proponent (?) Jeffrey Rosen. Rauch is one of the best people on his side of the argument, so this is a must-read.

Excerpt, from Jeffrey Rosen: "We do indeed agree that the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision was unwise policy and will provoke a political backlash. So I'd like to focus on what you correctly imagined would be our area of disagreement. You think the legal reasoning of the majority was 'solid' and its decision was 'sound.' I think it was unusually weak, and so cavalierly executed that it is likely to anger opponents even more than necessary. Whether the Constitution requires gay marriage has always struck me as one of the hardest legal questions, and although I've never been persuaded by the leading arguments, I can imagine any number of opinions that would have been more convincing than the Massachusetts Supreme Court's long awaited but disappointingly superficial effort."

Maggie Gallagher's column on Goodridge: "By rewriting the laws of marriage, the courts have essentially carried this logic to the ultimate conclusion: Marriage is whatever the adults want. ...

"...What happens if after 180 days, the state legislature hasn't passed a new unisex marriage law? In Vermont, the high court made its threat clear: Pass civil unions or else we will create gay marriage in Vermont. What is the 'or else' here?"

Also, Maggie debates Kevin Cathcart on the Jim Lehrer News Hour, here.

"Same-Sex Dilemma": Howard Kurtz, Washington Post media critic, on the Democrats' responses to the MA court decision: "They are all strong supporters of gay rights. They want gay votes and gay contributions. But with some exceptions (Kucinich, Sharpton and Braun), they do not endorse gay marriage, the notion of which would alienate a large chunk of the electorate.

"That straddle has been relatively easy to accomplish -- until now. ...

"George Bush faces a related problem...."

MarriageMovement, the Family Scholars Blog: Elizabeth Marquardt responds to Goodridge: "[The majority's] lack of curiosity about where the ideal of marital commitment might have come from in the first place is quite surprising. The short answer is that commitment exists first to protect children, and only secondarily brings benefits to adults. ...Do we do these children, or any others, a service by washing 'mother' and 'father' out of our language and arguing only that children need two 'parents' instead? If we are truly concerned about the best interests of children, and really listening to the pain that children express when they are parted from a biological parent, the answer is no."

"How Radical Is the Gay-Marriage Ruling? Why the Massachusetts decision breaks new ground."

SSM from a libertarian perspective at Reason's blog here. (There're a couple earlier posts but they strike me as less substantive.)

Stanley Kurtz: "It's going to take some time for the full implications of Goodridge vs. Massachusetts to play out. The most likely outcome is legal gay marriage in Massachusetts within six months; gay marriage as the key domestic issue in the upcoming presidential campaign; and a huge jumpstart for the drive to pass a Federal Marriage Amendment. Far from being a great victory, Goodridge is a serious tactical error on the part of the gay-marriage movement."

Andrew Sullivan: Interracial marriage comparison (we'll be debating this here on the blog soon); his basic take on the decision, which is long enough that I'll excerpt it in a separate post.

Christianity Today's weblog has a link roundup focusing on religious conservatives' reactions.

Professor Stephen Bainbridge: Goodridge will increase political polarization and "the culture wars," as Roe v. Wade did before it.

Sursum Corda, a Catholic blog, echoes my "bait-and-switch" concerns but is a bit less fervent about it.

If you all see particularly important or interesting links, send them my way....
posted by Eve at 10:06 PM VOTE

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home