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January 4, 2010 in Opinion
Jonathan Rauch: Growth year for gay rights
For the gay marriage debate, 2009 was transitional instead of transformative, but the year was historic nonetheless. To mangle Churchill, it was not the end, nor even the beginning of the end, but it was at least the beginning of the middle.
This is an issue on which the fundamentals of public opinion change glacially. Support for same-sex marriage is rising, but only by about a percentage point or so a year. Essentially, a third of the public supports gay marriage, another third or so supports civil unions instead, and the remaining third opposes any kind of legal status for same-sex couples.
Although public-opinion fundamentals didn’t change in 2009, the politics of gay marriage did. Here are the ways the year marked a shift to what a storyteller might call the “long middle.”
The pre-emptive strikes on both sides have failed.
Early on, conservatives feared that courts would impose same-sex marriage nationally by fiat. They responded with an attempt to ban gay marriage nationally by constitutional amendment. But the federal courts kept their distance, and the amendment was rebuffed.
As the year ends, it is clear that neither side can knock the other off the field. Gay marriage is firmly established in five states (with the District of Columbia likely to follow suit), but it is banned, often by constitutional amendment, in most of the others. Unless the Supreme Court shocks the country and itself by declaring gay marriage a constitutional right, the issue will take years, perhaps decades, to resolve. All-or-nothing activists will be disappointed, but the country will get the time it needs to make up its mind.
Legislators are taking over from judges.
For years, the only way same-sex marriage seemed possible was by court order. But with state venues for pro-gay-marriage lawsuits having just about dried up, the fight has moved from the lower courts to the political branches, much as the civil rights struggle did in the 1960s. Now, as then, legislative victories afford the movement more momentum and popular legitimacy than judicial ones ever could.
Opponents were fond of arguing that the gay-marriage movement was not just wrongheaded but antidemocratic. But in 2009, gay marriage was passed by the legislatures and signed into law in Maine and New Hampshire, and it was enacted by a veto-overriding majority in Vermont. Nothing undemocratic about that.
Same-sex marriage has been mainstreamed.
In its first decade or so on the national stage, gay marriage was a fringe idea, the property of the political far left. No longer. Gay marriage may still be losing at the ballot box, but in Maine in 2009, as in California in 2008, the margins have grown tight. With its establishment last spring in Iowa, same-sex marriage has penetrated the heartland, by court order but with little backlash. Many Democrats have come to see support for gay unions as a political plus. Increasingly, it is the opponents who are playing cultural defense, insisting that they are the ones who are being marginalized and stigmatized.
There’s a backlash against the backlash.
The most important trend of 2009 began Nov. 4, 2008, when California voters passed Proposition 8, revoking gay marriage in their state. Until then, the preponderance of passion lay with opponents. After Proposition 8, however, many heterosexuals embraced gay marriage, taking ownership of an issue that they have come to view as the next great civil rights battle.
For same-sex marriage advocates, the emergence of a dedicated core of straight supporters is a sea change. There is now comparable energy and commitment on both sides.
It was just such passion, indeed, that led two of the country’s most distinguished lawyers – Theodore Olson, a Republican, and David Boies, a Democrat – to join hands across party lines in 2009 and file a lawsuit asking the federal courts to overturn California’s Proposition 8. The case is a long shot legally, but the fact that it has attracted such solidly mainstream legal talent is one more sign that the same-sex marriage issue has come of age.
Jonathan Rauch, a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution, wrote this commentary for the Los Angeles Times.
Editorial: Workers’ beer routine undermines public trust 
terryalan on January 04 at 9:05 a.m.
Why is there NEVER any mention of Washington State being the ONLY state to pass Domestic Partnership by citizen vote as opposed to legislatively?
Ninch on January 04 at 9:57 a.m.
I never had a strong or definitive opinion on gay rights per se (e.g. marriage) until the gay activists unfairly attacked those who do not share their “values”… mostly devout Christians, Jews, and Muslims. (Note: I am not devout anything.)
Based on many acts by gay activists exhibiting vicious behavior against any who dare voice disagreement, 2009 could also be called a “grotesque year for gay rights.” Instead of focusing on steady progress, they went “postal” and are responsible for the major backlash against their cause(s).
I myself find it extraordinarily hypocritical for gay activists to attempt to deny others freedom of speech in expressing religious beliefs (refer to U.S. Constitution).
Lurleen on January 04 at 12:41 p.m.
Washington made history in November when the electorate ratified full domestic partnerships at the polls, the first state to do this. Additionally, the Nevada legislature enacted full domestic partnerships with a veto-overriding majority vote. These are both stunning developments that should not go unnoticed, especially since the opposition told the public in their campaign messages that domestic partnerships are marriage.
Washington voters have also demonstrated a growing desire to vote pro-equality. The last pro-equality ballot measure, I-677 in 1997, failed in every county including King Co. Contrast that with the 11/09 vote where the electorate as a whole and majorities in 10 of 39 counties approved R-71, and the rate of ballot measure approval increased between 1997 and 2009 in 38 of 39 counties. Spokane Co. was one of those 38. The trend towards equality seems obvious.
Megan_B on January 04 at 1:09 p.m.
This is the civil rights issue of our time. Those who vote against same-sex marriage rights will feel just as silly as those who voted against inter-racial marriages not that long ago…
love thy neighbor
no exceptions
no conditions
just love
period.
joemirabella on January 04 at 1:21 p.m.
Marriage equality is a only a matter of time. Polls considering age, like a recent CNN poll*, show that 58% of voters under 35 support marriage equality.
Washington voters’ willingness to approve domestic partnership rights is only the beginning of a national trend towards voter support for gay and lesbian families.
*source: http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/god-and-country/2009/05/05/cnn-poll-most-americans-oppose-gay-marriage-but-those-under-35-back-it
erin on January 05 at 10:48 a.m.
Washington state’s campaign for domestic partnerships worked hard to be inclusive of faith communities, and was historically successful in creating a faith coalition of over 130 faith communities from all over Washington state. While religious beliefs will continue to be divisive around issues of gay rights, Washington made significant strides in building bridges between gay rights advocates and faith communities over the past year.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on January 09 at 6:33 a.m.
Ninch… I am an active participant in the local GLBTA community… the picture with my blog is myself, my daughter britta and her wife jacqui…
I somehow failed to see any reporting on the “gay activist attacks” that you refer to… I’d like you to point out some news articles, or tell some personal stories…. gay people and their allies do not generally rise to the level of “attack” in other than a political process… help me understand here what you are referring to?? i can site all sorts of real physical and emotional attacks by the “ACTIVIISTS” on the anti side… some not unlike those perpetrated by the racists in the south when i was getting married to my “non white” wife.. which was still against the law in 1966 in 14 states…. the same 14 states that are on the political forefront against universal health care now.. john