Saturday, June 06, 2009

Who cares that Cheney supports gay marriage? U.S. Supreme Court said it lacked the authority to rule on gay marriage


So does anyone really care that former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney now supports gay marriage? He certainly did not when he was the sitting U.S. Vice President. Not to mention that the U.S. Vice President is also the ex-officio President of the United States Senate (a member of a body who is part of it by virtue of holding another office).

During every photo opportunity the Cheney's had with their granddaughter, they never included their lesbian daughter in any of the photo's. Say what you will, but the President cannot force the Vice President/President of the U.S. Senate to do anything, much less force him to leave his lesbian daughter and her partner out of photo's.

This week, Dick voiced his support for same-sex marriage, as long as it is handled by the states and not the federal government. The former U.S. VP said "people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish."

Hmmm. Why didn't he say this when it would have actually carried weight.......when he was President of the U.S. Senate, or the U.S. Vice President?

We still have a long way to go for marriage equality.

In 1971, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that Minnesota law limited marriage to opposite-sex couples, and that this limitation did not violate the United States Constitution. The plaintiffs appealed, and the United States Supreme Court, 409 U.S. 810 (1972), dismissed the appeal "for want of [a] substantial federal question," meaning the U.S. Supreme Court lacked the authority to rule or override the Minnesota Supreme Court. That dismissal by the Supreme Court of the United States constituted a decision on the merits, and established Baker v. Nelson as the controlling precedent as a matter of federal constitutional law on the absence of federal authority regarding same-sex marriage.


This is one of many reasons gay rights organizations are so outraged about the latest federal lawsuit. (previous story)

Challenges to DOMA have already been rejected by several federal courts, including a decision by Judge James S. Moody in the case of Wilson v. Ake.

Most legal scholars believe that the federal government cannot impose a definition of marriage onto the laws of the various states.

Now, there is all this talk about a march on Washington, D.C.! When will people learn that the battle for marriage equality must be waged within our states? Even the U.S. Supreme Court has said so!


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