Yesterday the California Supreme Court gave same-sex marrige a boost by determining that the ban on it in that State was unconstitutional. As I understand it, strenuous efforts will be made to persuade the California State legislature to overrule the Supreme Court decision, on the basis that the majority of the population of California is decidedly against same-sex marriage. California's governor says he is against same-sex marriage, but will not support any legislative move to overrule the Court's decision.
A while back I defended same-sex marriage and got a lot of negative feedback because of it. Today I just want to make two simple points. (1) The main reason I am in favor of same-sex marriage is because I believe marriage and family constitute the primary building block of societies worldwide. Marriage is a good thing; promiscuous sex outside of marriage is harmful. It is better for two people of the same sex to enter the covenant of marriage for precisely the same reasons it is better for two heterosexual people to do so. And (2) I'm always very wary of the majority, which is frequently dead wrong. The U.S. constitution was designed for the specific purpose of protecting minorities from the zealotry of majorities. Over and over again in American history -- think of slavery, think of the emancipation of women -- the majority has been sadly and badly mistaken. So I'm with Governor Schwarzenegger on this one.
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