An interesting article by Eli Sanders in The Stranger (Seattle alternative weekly newspaper) this week points out that King County Executive Ron Sims and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels have the administrative power to do what San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome has done: authorize marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples, and go to court to force the state to recognize the validity of such licenses. Of course, as Sanders also points out, Sims and Nickels are probably too lame and spineless to actually do this.
But it’s something they really ought to do, they really need to do. One thing that hasn’t been pointed out enough in all the press about the weddings in San Francisco is that social change never happens in a vacuum. Change comes when there is a cascade of events promoting it; it’s only at the very end of such a cascade of events that the law actually changes. The women’s suffrage movement of the early twentieth century, and the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, both exemplify this.
Recent events suggest that we have the chance of reaching a similar flash point, or tipping point, for equal marriage rights. Which is why I think that it’s imperative for Seattle, and other cities and localities throughout the country, to follow the lead of San Francisco (and Massachusetts and New Mexico). Politicians who say they want to wait for a more opportune moment (or whose mealy-mouthed equivocations, as in the case of John Kerry, imply such reasoning) need to realize that this is the opportune moment. If we don’t act now, Bush will probably get his odious constitutional amendment.
Not all injustices can be rectified overnight. Women’s suffrage did not eliminate sexism, and the civil rights movement did not eliminate racism. Nor will equal marriage rights eliminate homophobia. But when there is a rush of events opening up the prospect of (even partial) freedom, it’s inexcusable not to seize the moment.
More About Marriage
An interesting article by Eli Sanders in The Stranger (Seattle alternative weekly newspaper) this week points out that King County Executive Ron Sims and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels have the administrative power to do what San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome has done: authorize marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples, and go to court to force the state to recognize the validity of such licenses. Of course, as Sanders also points out, Sims and Nickels are probably too lame and spineless to actually do this.
But it’s something they really ought to do, they really need to do. One thing that hasn’t been pointed out enough in all the press about the weddings in San Francisco is that social change never happens in a vacuum. Change comes when there is a cascade of events promoting it; it’s only at the very end of such a cascade of events that the law actually changes. The women’s suffrage movement of the early twentieth century, and the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, both exemplify this.
Recent events suggest that we have the chance of reaching a similar flash point, or tipping point, for equal marriage rights. Which is why I think that it’s imperative for Seattle, and other cities and localities throughout the country, to follow the lead of San Francisco (and Massachusetts and New Mexico). Politicians who say they want to wait for a more opportune moment (or whose mealy-mouthed equivocations, as in the case of John Kerry, imply such reasoning) need to realize that this is the opportune moment. If we don’t act now, Bush will probably get his odious constitutional amendment.
Not all injustices can be rectified overnight. Women’s suffrage did not eliminate sexism, and the civil rights movement did not eliminate racism. Nor will equal marriage rights eliminate homophobia. But when there is a rush of events opening up the prospect of of (even partial) freedom, it’s inexcusable not to seize the moment.