2009-05-14 An Honest Difference of Opinion

I was just reflecting on some of the comments about the Miss USA fiasco and same sex marriage.  Obviously, the whole controversy was fabricated by Donald Trump to shore up interest in the flagging pageant and along with it sponsor revenue. I have been told that my outrage is misplaced since Carrie Prejean (Miss California) was just expressing an "honest difference of opinion".  Well I certainly agree that everyone has a right to their opinions.  And I could have certainly understood if she had said that while she believes that homosexuality is a sin that she does not advocate discriminating against gays in state or federal law.  Her opinions should clearly stop where my individual rights begin. And no one should be able to vote against equal rights for someone else in a referendum like Proposition 8.  It's simply un-American.  It occurs to me that the anti-miscegenation statues were not struck down nationally by the US Supreme Court (in Loving v. Virginia) until June 12, 1967.  I was just 3 months old.  Who knows how long that "honest difference opinion" of average Americans on the issue of interracial marriage would have stood without the moral leadership of an "activist" Supreme Court.  Let's hope Obama does appoint an empathetic and activist justice who can provide a counterbalance to some of the lesser instincts still prevalent in our society today.

 

Above: The plaintiffs, Mildred and Richard Loving