July 20. 2009

Noted trial lawyer David Boies explains today in a Wall Street Journal op-ed column why he joined with equally noted conservative lawyer Ted Olson to work on a federal lawsuit that seeks to to overturn California's Proposition 8.

He calls the suit that unites him with the attorney who argued the other side of the Bush v. Gore lawsuit, an issue that goes beyond party or ideology. He characterizes it as “an issue of enforcing our Constitution's guarantee of equal protection and due process to all citizens.”

Boies notes that, because of the First Amendment, religions would be free to condemn homosexuality with or without the California amendment enshrined in the state constitution by Prop 8. “However, the same First Amendment, as well as the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses, preclude the enshrinement of their religious-based disapproval in state law,” he writes.

He concludes,

The argument in favor of Proposition 8 ultimately comes down to no more than the tautological assertion that a marriage is between a man and a woman. But a slogan is not a substitute for constitutional analysis. Law is about justice, not bumper stickers.

Boies calls the vote for Prop 8 “the residue of centuries of figurative and literal gay-bashing” and “an attempt by the state to stigmatize a segment of its population that commits no offense other than falling in love with a disapproved partner.”

[T]here is no longer any credible contention that depriving gays and lesbians of basic rights will cause them to change their sexual orientation. Even if there was, the attempt would be constitutionally defective. But, in fact, the sexual orientation of gays and lesbians is as much a God-given characteristic as the color of their skin or the sexual orientation of their straight brothers and sisters. It is also a condition that, like race, has historically been subject to abusive and often violent discrimination. It is precisely where a minority's basic human rights are abridged that our Constitution's promise of due process and equal protection is most vital.

Source: Gay Marriage and the Constitution - WSJ.com

Writing for the Daily Democrat in Woodland, California, reporter Melody Stone yesterday offered a great summary of the tensions that continue to simmer in many Christian congregations over inclusion of LGBT members in the various denominations.

Like all good local reporters, Stone focuses on local churches in Woodland (which is about 20 miles northwest of Sacramento on I-5). But she uses the experience of the local pastors and priests to tell a broader story about that still-tense border  where faith meets sexuality.

For the past week, the tension has been most obvious in stories coming out of Anaheim in southern California where leaders of the Episcopal church met to hammer out some rules that will govern their congregations for the next three years, at least.

Stone reports:

The African and South American Episcopalians have cut ties with US Episcopalians over the issue. One of the reasons Episcopalians were able to pass a vote in favor of inclusion was last month the conservative wing of the church left and started The Anglican Church in North America. …

Mother Wendy Watson, a priest at Saint Luke's Episcopal Church in Woodland, said she doesn't think inclusion will cause much of a stir in her church. She's still hosting a meeting to talk about the subject after service on Sunday.

One of the two major Lutheran groups in the US will meet next month in a convention similar to the one just concluded by Episcopalians. It’s a meeting where the church’s treatment of its own LGBT members is also expected to be one of the major issues.

Stone talked to a local pastor who explained:

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