Our [next] day in court.

March 5, 2009 by Pastor Dan.

Just like the previous year, this day has been a long time coming. The passage of Proposition 8 four months ago has triggered the lawsuits which have led to the Supreme Court’s second look at issues relating to same-gender marriage.

Last May, a majority of the same Court made itself abundantly clear that gay and lesbian people are entitled to the same dignity and the same rights as all other citizens of California, so that Proposition 22’s statutory ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.

But the cultural warriors of the Religious Reich mounted a much heavier campaign against LGBT people by putting Proposition 8 on November’s ballot to amend the constitution and define marriage as being only between a man and a woman. Never mind that 18,000 same-sex couples had legally tied the knot since June 17. Never mind that marriage has been a very fluid institution for thousands of years. Through the enormous support of the Roman Catholic and Mormon churches, incredible expenditures on misleading advertising, and especially by playing the “fear card” with the public, Proposition got a 52% majority.

The close vote demonstrates that in California, we are not all of the same mind.

At issue today is whether a simple amendment through a ballot initiative can simply erase the civil rights of a specific portion, a minority of the population. Lawyers will argue that such a fundamental change is a revision, not a simple amendment, and should be stricken down. There is another process for such major revisions, which requires a 2/3 majority of the legislature among other things.

Yesterday, numerous impassioned religious leaders spoke to the media in the hopes that the Supreme Court’s own arc will bend toward justice, not toward popular bigotry or majority vote. Time and again the popular opinion of California voters has had to be overturned by the Supreme Court because the momentary narrow thinking or bigoted fears stirred up had deprived justice to other minorities.

I was glad to be standing in the company of Episcopal Bishop Jon Bruno and other bishops, two rabbis, a Buddhist monk, as well as other Protestant clergy who had the courage to speak on behalf of justice.

At issue for me is that no religious persuasion should rule our civil rights in California, especially no one particular religious view. There is a spectrum of opinion among people of faith on the moral issues of our times. I do not hold the same views as Roman Catholic or Mormon Bishops and in fact believe their loud support for “traditional marriage” is little more than a distraction from their own excesses and extremes. I do not hold the same religious views of marriage as Southern Baptists or Rick Warren or other mega-church showmen who appeal to popular prejudice to build their kingdoms.

And I do not expect the Court to enshrine my religious views, or any one else’s religious views, about marriage, family and moral law. what I expect is that the Court will see the purely civil rights issues in civil marriage and rule accordingly that Proposition 8 is invalid.

—Pastor Dan Hooper, Los Angeles

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