Apparently Massachusetts is the wave of the future after all. Key graf:
In time, common parlance will simply refer to all of the above as married. The only real difference may be that a civil union will be less transportable to other states. But that will also surely change, as some states will agree to recognize such civil unions, just as New York state has said it will agree to recognize Massachusetts' civil marriages.
A foregone conclusion, practically. But George Bush was just so wrong to conclude a Constitutional Amendment was necessary:
Of course, this process in Massachusetts is not, in many ways, a bad thing. It really has initiated an extraordinary public debate that has enriched many of us. The legislative and judicial processes in that state are signs that the system is working on a state level, and there is no need for clumsy federal intervention to pre-empt this state-by-state process and impose a premature "solution" on the entire country through the drastic option of a federal constitutional amendment. That also goes for California, where the judicial process should be allowed to continue unmolested by Washington.
It's a matter of "molestation," apparently. Yawn.
(By the way, Justin on Dust in the Light has some excellent background material on SSM that fisks Andrew's increasingly incoherent position on this issue.)
Posted by Demosophist at March 12, 2004 07:47 AM | TrackBack