Prop 8 is overruled (again)

The court affirmed Judge Vaughn Walker’s verdict dismissing Prop 8 on February 7th. Their statement explains that you cannot, by referendum, remove a right held under state law. While many same-sex marriage advocates would have preferred a ruling declaring sex-based marriage discrimination unconstitutional, any decision in favor of equality is one to celebrate. The investigation of Judge Walker’s ruling was the first instance of an American judge’s sexual orientation being cited as grounds for overturning a ruling. 

Groups fighting to preserve the much-cited one man/one woman definition of marriage are extremely displeased. The Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance of Christians whose primary focus is conservative social issues, has announced their intentions to appeal. A Supreme Court ruling is likely. The National Organization for Marriage, or NOM, describes their mission as protecting marriage.

Traditional Christian groups tend to view monogamous heterosexual marriages as inherently superior, sanctioned by the Church and time-tested. However, the institution of marriage has been evolving as long as human beings have been forming longterm pair bonds- and even that may not be as long many would think. Although the prevailing estimate states that Homo sapiens have existed as a distinct species for around 250,000 years, evidence indicates that the earliest forms of marriage only emerged 10,000 years ago.

Since then, a lot has changed. The Bible, frequently used to condemn same-sex marriage, contains dozens of instances of relationships that would be considered nontraditional today. Polygamy is seen many times (Judges 8:30 and1 Kings 11:1- Genesis 28:6-9, for example), and concubinage, the practice of having a servant girl whose duties included sexual services, was also ubiquitous (1 Kings 11:1-3 and many others).

Of course, that was a different time. Women were seen as property in law and in daily life. Today, in America, autonomy is expected by all people. Prejudices are overcome.

Now, times are changing again. California is on the brink of participating in the next shift. The end of marriage as an exclusively heterosexual institution will further human rights as much as the change in marriage’s definition that came before it.