An Overview of Prop 8/Marriage Equality Debate

[Fearless]

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The fundies really do look stupid when you put it all out there.

[IntravenousDemilo]

1. Well done! n/m

[m00nbeam]

2. Very nice diagram

Looks like all the arguments are represented.

[Warpy]

3. While that diagrams the religious and pseudo secular arguments

quite nicely, it fails to address the real question Prop 8 poses: are the civil rights of any minority group fair game to be abolished by majority vote?

The question over Prop 8 is only peripherally one of gay marriage. The central constitutional question is whether or not majority rule is absolute, especially concerning rights guaranteed by the constitution and Bill of Rights as applied to all people, majority or minority.

The answer seems pretty clear to me: the founders feared mob rule more than anything but theocracy and that's why we got the Bill of Rights, to check the power of a democratic majority.

The Roberts court had better consider this question very seriously because white males are due to be the minority in not too many more years, probably while the younger members are still alive. While they don't approve of gay marriage, the larger constitutional question goes far beyond it and ruling in favor of mob rule in this case or any other is likely to come back to bite them. Hard.

[Fearless]

4. To be fair that's not even up for debate in my opinion.

Legally, it's a bedrock principal dating back before the founders that the minority had protections against the tyranny of the majority. That was the whole point of the Bill of Rights for instance. Who needs a guarantee of rights if the majority already accept those rights. The Federalist Paper 84 and the Anti-Federalist Paper 84 flesh out this debate.