No More Prop H8, But Why Didn’t It Come Sooner?

We’ve taken one step further in the battle of trying to spread civil rights for all and have come closer to judging someone not by the color, sexual orientation, gender, religion, or any other unique factor or trait, but by the content of their character.

The 9th Circuit Court in California struck down the state’s voter-passed ban on gay marriage Tuesday, Jan. 7, ruling 2-1 that it’s unconstitutional and that it violates the rights of gay Californians. The decision backed up District Judge Vaughn Walker, who ruled in August of 2010 that the state of California has no “rational basis” to single out gay men and women as ineligible for marriage and to support a bill that was enacted in 2008 to impose more obstacles for acceptance in the LGBT community.

This is obviously a very wonderful thing not only for the LGBT community but also for anyone who wants or wishes for equality for everyone else as well, but I’m also still a little saddened that the Circuit Court had to decide to get rid of the hateful discrimination against gays and lesbians and not the people of California themselves.

To be honest, when I went to the polls in 2008 to vote against the terrible ban on gay marriage, I was completely confident that the people of California would vote the same way and realize that everyone deserves the right to fall in love and get married. I really had no idea that the state in which I lived in would really put their religious beliefs and prejudices in front of another person’s rights, and I was honestly shocked.

I was just taught in all my government and political classes that the “Due Process Clause prohibits state and local governments from depriving persons of life, liberty, or property without certain steps being taken to ensure fairness,” and that the “Equal Protection Clause requires each state to provide equal protection under the law to all people within its jurisdiction.”

The Fourteenth Amendment was the reason why segregation during the 60’s was ruled to be unconstitutional. So why did California go on for four years denying a marginalized group of individuals of their civil rights? And why hasn’t the Supreme Court done anything to rule that the rest of the states still stuck in the 50’s that they cannot outlaw gay marriage?

Maybe it’s just me that’s confused about how the law is supposed to work. Maybe I’m not really residing in the land of the free and the home of the brave? I don’t know about you but I don’t really think that’s the case. There should have never been a ban on gay marriage. It was always unconstitutional, unfair, and just wrong. I didn’t understand then in 2008 how anyone can just deny rights to certain people just because they are a minority as far as the social term goes, and I still don’t understand it now. I don’t know how long the Supreme Court will go on about ignoring the rights of certain people, but I hope they wake up soon. And yeah, there’s no more “Prop H8,” but why didn’t it come sooner?