The Moderate Republican

Gay Marriage: Slow and Steady Wins

On Thursday, we found out that the California Supreme Court invalidated the 4000 same sex marriages that took place in San Francisco last winter when Mayor Gavin Newsom issued marriage licenses for same-sex couples. Looking at some of the blogs there was much saddness in the gay community as one would and should expect. I for one, was sad but not surprised. It was a gamble to see if these marriages would hold up and as wonderful as it was seeing people literally line up and in many cases, drive for hours to get married, you always had the feeling that this might not be the real deal. I mean, those pieces of paper issued by the city were in legal limbo whereas the papers issued in Massachusetts were the real deal.

I wasn't as sad about this, because of how Newsom tried to frame this argument. An article published in Slate talked about the stark differences in approach taken by those in Massachusetts and those in San Francisco. Richard Thompson Ford shows that the "Massachusetts Way" was the better of the two and the result is that same-sex couples are getting married in the Bay State. He offers this reason as to why the Massachusetts approach was better:

Put your Finger to the Wind. The litigation team waited years to find a sympathetic court and politcal climate as well as sympathetic plantiffs. It was carefully planned and mapped out. The criteria needed for a successful case was found in Massachusetts and they went there and won the case. On the other hand, San Francisco provoked the action which caused the state to slap them down. This placed opponents of gay marraige in the driver seat as the plaintiffs with the city having to defend itself. The other mistiake is that it took gay people out of the equation. Instead of a sympathic gay couple carrying the "torch" for gay marriage, it was the city of San Francisco. Kinda hard to feel sorry for a city.

San Fran in many ways, jumped the gun. They tired forcing the issue and ended up sidlining the issue. The article shows that going slow and steady is the sure way to get to the utlimate goal of gay marriage.