TPM recaps last night’s marriage equality victories. Both Maryland and Maine have voted in favor of marriage equality. Because of its mail-in voting system, Washington state hasn’t finished counting votes but legalization of same-sex marriage is currently ahead in the vote count. And – against all the odds – Minnesota has voted against a constitutional ban on marriage equality. Josh Barro looks ahead:
Gay marriage supporters went from losing big to losing small and have now shown they can win at the ballot box. And societal shifts — increasing acceptance of gays, plus old people with anti-gay attitudes dying and being replaced by accepting young voters — mean that gay marriage will likely be able to obtain a majority vote in nearly every state within a decade.
This presents a pleasant dilemma for gay marriage advocates. For the past decade, they have made a passionate (and correct) case that gay marriage should not be subject to referendum. Minority rights should not be subjected to the will of the majority. Gays are entitled to equal marriage even over the objections of the popular will.
But what if the majority is prepared to grant those minority rights? Then a referendum goes from being an injustice to being an inconvenience — and it will be an inconvenience gay marriage advocates will increasingly have to bear in pursuit of legalization.
That has been my argument all along: because I always believed that fair-minded Americans, if they were willing to stop and really listen to the arguments, would do the right thing the right way: back equality at the ballot box. It’s so much better than court decisions, although those court decisions helped make these ballot box victories possible, by changing consciousness. Jim Burroway expects the road to equality to be long:
It will be generations, I think, before we can win marriage equality throughout the U.S. at the ballot box. In fact, there are some states where that will never happen; it will also take some key court victories before all Americans are created equal. We will undoubtedly experience more losses and setbacks in the years ahead. But every great movement moves forward one step at a time. This was a big step, but it is only the latest one in a long line of just putting one foot in front of the other. We’ve been doing that for more than half a century. But right now it feels pretty good, now that we’re starting to get the hang of it.
Let me differ. Last night was a Big Fucking Deal for marriage equality and gays and lesbians in America. And, yes, Obama led from behind. But we kicked his until he did. Keep kicking.
The Dish 