Equality Train is Chugging Along
Via M: PZ Myers, “Minnesota Does the Right Thing” (2008/05/16) links to Minnesota Monitor, Andy Birkey, “Citizen-penned marriage equality bill introduced in Minnesota legislature” (2008/05/16)
“I’m 54 years old, and I’m sick of waiting,” said Benson, who has been with his partner, Duane , for almost 20 years.Benson moved beyond protesting and took action: He drafted a bill, identified chief authors and cosponsors, took the bill to the revisor and had it submitted for reading. Currently, the bill has 14 sponsors in the House and five in the Senate, the maximum allowed.
“There are a lot of legislators here who support marriage equality,” says Benson. “Some who are in unsafe districts are even willing to lose office in order to see marriage equality become reality in Minnesota. They have told me this. They’re an inspiration.”
I don’t know where to start. Citizen activism, a citizen stepping up and thoroughly participating in this democracy to claim equal rights, politicians actually doing the right thing and standing up for equality, the list goes on. I’ll be over here cheering and crying with joy and admiration.
Wine Tasting
I’ve got a new Friday evening, end of week ritual: wine tasting at Biondivino! Today they were doing tastings from Dettori~Baddu Nigoloso, a small winery located on the north shore of Sardegna, and that led to getting slightly tipsy (it was a long day, an empty stomach, and apparently I hit it off with the bloke doing the pouring, because he kept saying, “Now try this,” and pouring other vintage years to compare the tastes, and a moscaddedu–simply gorgeous and refreshing, not too sweet), then beer with dinner, then meandering down Polk St. and getting dragged into S.N.O.B. (Sonoma, Napa, Or Beyond), a comfortable wine bar that I might start going to in lieu of Amelie. My friend A had a delicious petit syrah there and the vibe was relaxed for a Friday night; the last few times I’ve been to Amelie, I’ve been disappointed by the wines I’ve had, and it gets uncomfortably packed on weekends. Anyway, at Biondivino, in addition to the usual cheese, prosciutto, and bread, there was polpo and some kind of grain dish (similar to Israeli couscous?) to nibble on from La Ciccia, a Sardinian restaurant out in Noe Valley that’s just jumped to the top of my list of places to try, based solely on the strength of the grain/pasta stuff. Mmm!
I had a point, but I think I lost it somewhere along the way while thinking about the Dettori Tenores 2004 I tasted tonight (tasting order: Bianco 2006, Bianco 2003, both vermentino; Tuderi 2003, Tuderi 2004; Tenores 2004; Rosso 2004; Moscaddedu 2006). It was a gorgeous, deep, ruby red color with a warm and refreshing flavor (my wine vocab, it is not so extensive. Nor sophisticated. Nor wine-literate, actually.). Losing my train of thought has been a common occurrence of late; there was wine tonight, wine and beer last night (dinner at A16 and celebrating marriage equality!!!!); and hitting the bars with the SF alums last weekend. I love wine and going out in the hot weather that’s been rolling out recently, the intense heat is a body memory linked with wine, pasta, pizza, and hanging out with friends until the wee hours of the morning. It feels right (more memories and unconscious habits from Rome kicking in).
Oh, right. I was watching the video that Pocochina linked and just cried with joy. The four California Supreme Court justices in the majority decision affected the lives of thousands of people for the better yesterday. I am still deliriously happy when I think about it. I printed off the majority opinion today and I’m going to go read it–when I saw the court officers(?) carry out copies in the video, I started crying, realizing that those papers, those words, are not just letters and sounds. They are the lives of real people, who are now free to marry their loved ones in the eyes of the state of California. They are the lives of real people, whose oppression and harassment the court recognized as legitimate evils of the same type as racism and sexism. The decision, the freedom, the bold cry for equality is an ever-springing fountain of joy deep inside that lifts my whole spirit.
So I’m going to go read the decision because I want to know every single word. I want to grasp them and burn them into my soul, where no one will ever be able to erase them. These are my rights, goddamnit, and I will hold onto them fiercely.
The Equality Train is Coming
Melissa @ Shakesville: “California Court Overturns Gay Marriage Ban!”
I hear equality coming down the tracks—and they really just need to get the hell out of the way if they don’t want to get crushed. [post title from this quote]
I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so thrilled. So excited. So plain happy that finally, the court stood up and said, “SEPARATE IS NOT EQUAL,” in this context. Of course the social conservatives are going to turn out in force, but they were always going to, and we’re going to fight them like mad, and we’re going to win. This decision will change peoples’ lives immediately, and I’m so incredibly thrilled and so happy for them. Cheers to everyone who wants to get married here and now can. Cheers to the thousands of couples who got their licenses in 2004. Cheers to Justices Ronald George, Joyce Kennard, Kathryn Mickle Werdegar, and Carlos Moreno. Cheers to the plaintiffs, Arthur Frederick Adams and Devin Wayne Baker, Alexsis Beach and Rachel Lederman, Myra Beals and Ida Matson, Dave and Jeff Chandler, Sarah and Gillian Conner-Smith, Sarah and Gillian Conner-Smith, Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis, Jewelle Gomez and Diane Sabin, Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, Margot McShane and Alexandra D’Amario, Jeanne Rizzo and Pali Cooper, Joshua Rymer and Timothy Frazer, Karen Shain and Jody Sokolower, Janet Wallace and Deborah Hart, Equality California, and Our Family Coalition. The individual plaintiffs’ statements are available at the NLCR link and are well worth reading for insight in to the immediate human impact of the ruling. Cheers to their legal team, the lead counsel from the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, ACLU, Heller Ehrman LLP, and the Law Office of David Codell.
But San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, whose office filed one of the suits challenging the marriage law, said the court acted in the best tradition of an independent judiciary.
“Our democratic system was founded on the notion that the courts should not be swayed by public opinion when it comes to protecting our most cherished rights,” Herrera said.
Mayor Gavin Newsom, whose sanctioning of same-sex marriages in 2004 led to today’s ruling, said, “It’s about human dignity. It’s about civil rights. It’s about time.”
Chief Justice George was joined in the majority by Justices Joyce Kennard, Kathryn Mickle Werdegar and Carlos Moreno. Justices Marvin Baxter, Ming Chin and Carol Corrigan dissented – though Corrigan, writing separately, said she personally believes “Californians should allow our gay and lesbian neighbors to call their unions marriages.”
…
But George, in a 121-page opinion, said California has already recognized, in its laws and public policy, that gays and lesbians are entitled to equal treatment in every legal area except marriage. He also noted that state laws and traditions banned interracial marriage until the California Supreme Court, in 1948, became the first court in the nation to overturn such a law.
“Even the most familiar and generally accepted of social policies and traditions often mask an unfairness and inequality that frequently is not recognized or appreciated by those not directly harmed,” the chief justice wrote.
Today’s ruling marks a watershed moment in the conflict over gay marriage, with the most influential state Supreme Court in the nation, dominated by Republican appointees, ruling in favor of gay rights advocates in the state with the largest gay population. California was considered a crucial battleground for civil rights groups, which have lost a number of major legal challenges in recent years in other states such as New York, Washington and New Jersey.
The decision is sure to spark a furor that could spill into the ballot box in November, when there is a strong chance voters will be weighing a ballot initiative to change the state Constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger previously announced his opposition to the ballot initiative, and reiterated his opposition today.
“I respect the court’s decision and as governor, I will uphold its ruling,” Schwarzenegger said within minutes of the ruling. “Also, as I have said in the past, I will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this state Supreme Court ruling.”
New York Times, Adam Liptak, “California Court Affirms Right to Gay Marriage” (2008/05/16)
“In view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship,” Chief Justice Ronald M. George wrote of marriage for the majority, “the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples.”
…
The first was that marriage is a fundamental constitutional right. “The right to marry,” Chief Justice George wrote, “represents the right of an individual to establish a legally recognized family with a person of one’s choice and, as such, is of fundamental significance both to society and to the individual.”
Chief Justice George conceded that “as an historical matter in this state marriage has always been restricted to a union between a man and a woman.” But “tradition alone,” the chief justice continued, does not justify the denial of a fundamental constitutional right. Bans on interracial marriage were, he wrote, sanctioned by the state for many years.
The court also struck down state laws banning same-sex marriage on equal protection grounds, adopting a new standard of review in the process.
With few exceptions, courts considering suits from gay men and lesbians claiming legal discrimination of all sorts have applied a relaxed standard of scrutiny under which the government must show only that the challenged law had a rational basis.
In Thursday’s decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the correct standard of review for plaintiffs claiming discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is “strict scrutiny,” the standard used in race-discrimination cases. Under that standard, the government must demonstrate that it has a compelling interest for the law it is defending and that the distinctions drawn by the law are necessary to protect the interest.
The text of the decision, in PDF.
At last, at last.
Half Week In Photos…from a few weeks ago
Photos beneath the cut. These are all taken with a cameraphone, since (a) my digital point and shoot is erratic and unreliable; (b) the Canon Eos 35mm is not exposing properly and I have to take it to a shop as soon as I get the current roll out. The cameraphone is surprisingly convenient, since I nearly always have my cell phone on me, and it’s light and fast. So I actually do take pictures with it on the go. And the ease of getting photos off of it in digital format is seductive. It still doesn’t match up to working in a dark room or shooting a person for an hour, though. There’s a whole different mentality to working with a person and concentrating on her or him, but consciously making the effort to take a photo a day is making me see things differently again, the way I did when I was taking photography in college and shooting three 36-exposure rolls a week.
Saturday, 2008/04/26, Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market
The tomatoes have been out since early March, I think (I’ve been losing track of time lately). They were so gorgeous, so vibrantly red they practically glowed in the bright sunlight at the market. I was ecstatic the first time I saw fresh tomatoes at the market this year, without even remembering what they tasted like. I knew I’d rather make pasta sauces with fresh tomatoes than canned, but it had been so long since I’d done it that I’d forgotten what the difference was. Then, back in March, I made spaghetti all’ amatriciana for my first fresh tomato sauce of the year and it was great. The phrase that comes to mind is one that I heard from an acquaintance in Athens last summer, “There’s a party in my mouth and no one else is invited!” (the flip side of that one is “There’s a party in my mouth and everyone’s throwing up.”). There’s an extra layer of taste, a zing, that comes from fresh tomatoes.
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Friday Fluff
I’ve finally succumbed and subscribed to AT&T for DSL, which should turn on next week. Hopefully, my personal laptop will be fixed by then (Tuesday morning, it refused to turn on. I think there’s a short somewhere), so that I won’t be using the slow, lagging laptop I’m on in the interim, and won’t be trying to blog via iTouch. It’d be an interesting experiment, to say the least, although it might also be faster than this laptop.
In the meantime, have some fluff:
I really want to make this Soy Poached Roast Chicken (Bitten, 2008/04/30) with these Snow Peas (Bittman, 2008/04/30) this weekend. The peas have been out at the market for months and I’ve looked at them, tempted to try cooking some but not sure of how to do it.
I learned to enjoy food the first summer I was living in Rome and I learned to cook the year after, when I was living with a roommate of Italian descent. So pretty much everything I know how to cook is Italian (more specifically la cucina Romanesca) and I’m used to those tastes and methods. I have a sense of how they work and how to throw things together in the kitchen, whereas I lack that intuition and experience when it comes to Korean or any other Asian cuisine. It’s something that’ll come with experience, but I’d like a teacher or a cookbook to start with and I haven’t got either. Haven’t found a good English-language Korean cookbook, and while My Korean Kitchen is a good read and informative, it’s not hanshik the way my mom makes it. In the meantime I’m thinking of branching out into other cuisines, although it’s a bit difficult because most of the ingredients and spices I have in my kitchen right now aren’t ones that are used in Chinese or Korean cooking.
Photos below the cut. Pro-Clinton material (I like to get a heads up when I’m clicking on political content, so…fair’s fair, I guess.).
