Since 2003, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down archaic sex laws and the Massachusetts high court ruled that gay couples had a right to marry, we’ve heard right-wing activists and politicians, including President, Bush denouncing “activist judges� and “judicial tyranny.� But even when a state court allows the legislature to decide whether or not to call family protections for gay couples “marriage�—as was the case in Vermont seven years ago and is the case in New Jersey now—right wing leaders cynically complain.

The Christian right’s reaction to the New Jersey court ruling on marriage for same-sex couples proves that no matter how our governmental institutions address this issue, right- wing leaders will attack these institutions and scapegoat gay people.

When the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples deserved equal benefits, leading to the creation of civil unions in 2000, former Family Research Council director and then-presidential candidate Gary Bauer called the decision “worse than terrorism.� When Republican Governor Jane Swift offered Massachusetts state workers domestic partner health insurance in 2001, the Bay State Republican Council denounced these limited benefits as “special privileges� for “homosexuals.�

Opponents of same-sex marriage have argued for years that it is the legislatures, not courts, that should decide how and whether to recognize same-sex couple families. But when the California legislature passed a bill legalizing marriage for gay couples in 2005, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it, saying— without the slightest sense of irony—that the issue should be left up to the courts.

The right talks a lot about same-sex couples upending tradition and history. But the Family Research Council’s Tom McClusky wants to repeal two centuries of judicial review when he calls on the New Jersey legislature to “ignore the ruling� by a “septet of black robed would be dictators.�

The New Jersey high court decision in Lewis v. Harris was a major yet incremental step forward toward equality for gay and lesbian families. The court ruled unanimously that gay couples deserved equal protections, rights and responsibilities under state law, and ordered the state legislature to change the state’s laws to reflect this equality. The court split 4-3 on whether or not same-sex couples have a right to call our unions marriages, and allowed the legislature to decide this.

This was a moderate and measured decision. But, desperate because the American public is no longer buying its snake oil on Iraq, the economy, the deficits, or corruption, the Republicans and the Christian right are trying to make this election about “gay marriage,� again. Karl Rove must have sent around a memo titled, “No matter what happens, blame the gays.� But it’s not going to work this time.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 30th, 2006 at 4:21 pm and is filed under Politics, Civil Rights .