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Gay rights activists: Anti-Prop. 8 lawsuit is wrong approach
Let's avoid the discussion of whether there is / should be a right to gay marriage and so on - I'm posting this just to show, we're not the only movement that is trying to break new ground in civil rights, and worries a lot about trying the wrong suit too early. Apparently the "right people" in the gay rights movement think that going for a "damn the torpedoes" federal lawsuit right now is very unwise because they risk major setbacks that could take decades to overturn. They want to build up smaller state-level victories to build on, before they go for "D-day" in Federal court.
To some degree, what can you do, one of the flaws of a system like ours is that ill-conceived cases can set precedents that can last a long long time. We have Miller, to some extent, as an example of that.
Gay rights advocates today blasted two veteran attorneys for filing a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn Proposition 8, California's voter-approved same-sex marriage ban, saying the move is premature and could be disastrous for the marriage movement.
While they knew of the objections, attorneys Theodore B. Olson and David Boies - who opposed each other during the 2000 Bush v. Gore presidential election case - filed the suit Friday in San Francisco on behalf of two same-sex couples who wanted to be married but were denied because of Prop. 8.
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The advocates say it took 17 years to undo a 1986 Supreme Court decision that upheld Georgia's sodomy law. An Arkansas court used that law as justification to deny a lesbian mother custody of her children, said Jon Davidson, legal director at Lambda Legal, a national gay rights group.
"It is a difference in strategy," said Davidson. "We agree with the goal (of the federal lawsuit). But if (they) were to lose, it could be a huge setback for the gay rights movement."
While they knew of the objections, attorneys Theodore B. Olson and David Boies - who opposed each other during the 2000 Bush v. Gore presidential election case - filed the suit Friday in San Francisco on behalf of two same-sex couples who wanted to be married but were denied because of Prop. 8.
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The advocates say it took 17 years to undo a 1986 Supreme Court decision that upheld Georgia's sodomy law. An Arkansas court used that law as justification to deny a lesbian mother custody of her children, said Jon Davidson, legal director at Lambda Legal, a national gay rights group.
"It is a difference in strategy," said Davidson. "We agree with the goal (of the federal lawsuit). But if (they) were to lose, it could be a huge setback for the gay rights movement."
To some degree, what can you do, one of the flaws of a system like ours is that ill-conceived cases can set precedents that can last a long long time. We have Miller, to some extent, as an example of that.
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