Napoleon's Dictum As Applied To Politics

The great French General Napoleon Bonaparte had a saying- one of my favorite in the whole world:
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

I come to tell you a tale of victory from defeat. Because Napoleon was right. Attend.

So, in the middle of all the hooplah from the election we find that there is still entirely too much bigotry in our populace. In California, trendsetter state of the Union, forefront of the sexual liberation movement, the odious Proposition 8 passed. Of course, that might have something to do with the state’s horrible case of disassociative identity disorder, but that’s another topic for another day.

I’m liking what I see in terms of the fight against the Amendment. The City of San Francisco jumped in with a lawsuit with both feet immediately, and others look to be joining in. But there is a nuclear option which I think the people behind Prop 8 don’t see or believe in, and it seems to me likely that the California Supreme Court is prepared to exercise it. I’ve been saying this for months, but a friend (hi Molly!) asked me nicely the other day to actually write it down. And I like her, so what she wants, she gets.

In their May decision legalizing gay marriage, the CA Supremes clearly and completely laid out their rationale. They referred to the State Constitution which it is their duty to interpret. The pointed out that the first freedom in that constitution is the guarantee of equal treatment of all the state’s citizens before the law. They noted that the ban on gay marriage voted into law in 2005 would violate that guarantee, and that some legally justifiable reasoning would be required before such a law could be considered constitutional.

And after hearing out the case, they found no such compelling legal justification for stripping a class of citizens of their rights.

The passage of Proposition 8, which amends the State Constitution, would seem to get around that hurdle, since it writes such a removal of rights directly into the controlling authority for the laws of the State.

But it doesn’t surmount that problem at all.

You see, after all is said and done, the CA Supreme Court still has to interpret the law. And should Prop 8 survive all the intermediary challenges winding their way through the court system right now, there’s still the precedent of that earlier decision.

• Equal protection is paramount.
• There must be a compelling justification for a differentiation of the rights of one group of citizens over another.
• There IS no such justification for banning gay marriage.
  

Ergo, the idea must be that Prop 8’s proponents can only have meant to ban marriage entirely in the state of California. Civil unions for everyone, the state is getting out of the marriage business altogether. If you won't share, no one can have any. That is exactly where the Court will take it if forced.

So I understand the consternation of my homosexual brothers and sisters out there in the world, but I tell you- take heart. The Religious Right has won this round, but this was the last good opportunity in a generation (and possibly ever) for them to have this fight.

And in the process, they painted themselves into a corner. And when they have won, and destroyed state-sanctioned marriage entirely in this state, they will look over the ruined plain of victory and cry “But that’s not what we meant!”

No, kids, but that’s what you did.