Life, Liberty and What??

Unless you've been living under a rock in California you've heard that on May 16th, 2008 the Supreme Court of California (not the first state I might add) voted in a 4 to 3 ruling that the state Constitution protects a fundamental "right to marry" that extends equally to same-sex couples. It tossed a highly emotional issue into the election year while opening the way for tens of thousands of gay people to wed in California, starting as early as mid-June. For those of you living under a rock, articles can be found here and here.

This is pretty exciting stuff. Imagine the boost to the California economy as gays and lesbians rush to the alter! Matter of fact they are expecting (based on census data and Massachusetts' experience) over 20,000 weddings before November. Why is there a magic date of November 2008? I'm so glad you asked as there is a catch to everything. There is a group called the Liberty Counsel (naturally a fundamental Christian group) that are fighting to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November stating that marriage is defined as a man and a woman.

What saddens me is the use of the word Liberty to define themselves. Liberty is defined by dictionaries everywhere as the following:

-- autonomy: immunity from arbitrary exercise of authority: political independence
-- freedom of choice; "liberty of opinion"; "liberty of worship"; "liberty--perfect liberty--to think or feel or do just as one pleases"; "at liberty to choose whatever occupation one wishes"
-- personal freedom from servitude or confinement or oppression

None of those definitions comes anywhere near the right winged, discriminatory, oppressive opinions that this group spews out from their websites, blogs and other media blitzs. It saddens me even more that this group and other groups like it have successfully certified a proposed constitutional amendment for the November 2008 ballot. It's a terrible thing that in a country founded by immigrants trying to escape religious oppression spends so much time religously oppressing it's people.