Massachusetts - where gay marriage is the status quo

I just edited a sentence the Wikipedia entry on same-sex marriage in the United States.

BEFORE: "The same political and legal events also gave rise to
a counter movement to freeze the status quo by legally
defining traditional marriage, the marriage of one woman to
one man."

AFTER: "The same political and legal events also gave rise to
a counter movement to legally define traditional marriage, the
marriage of one woman to one man, thus freezing the status quo
in the 49 states without same-sex marriage and reversing the
2003 court ruling, Goodridge v. Massachusetts Department of
Public Health, that legalized it in that state."

Dear Anonymous

Thank you for your interest in my blog. Would you like to share your first name and where you're calling from?

Some quick thoughts:
- The spelling is "Roe."
- My understanding is that while Justice Kennedy won't vote to overturn Roe, and thus in a technical sense you are correct, he would uphold very severe restrictions that would make abortions very difficult to obtain. Many states have various restrictions on access to abortion that are
- Everyone is concerned about Roe because the abortion debate, which has been a major fault line in the past qurater century of American political history, grew up in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's finding that states may not interfere with a woman's right to choose whether to end her pregnancy.

"Rich women will fly to California; poor women will use Cytotec."

That is, if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

But first: Miers Led Bid to Revisit Abortion Stance. The role of Bush's new Supreme Court nominee in leading an effort to change the ABA's stance on abortion is self-explanatory and cause for concern, though she was one of several involved in the effort, and it doesn't by any means make clear her own views on Roe v. Wade or the right to privacy. On the other hand, the more vocal factions of the right wing are pissed as hell. They wanted someone with a track record of fanaticism, and this lady ain't it.

Miers is, like Condoleezza Rice, single and childless, which frankly is a welcome contrast to John Roberts' Leave it to Beaver style. I have to say that having run the Texas Lottery Commission sounds a bit like having run a horse association (though Miers was successful in that job instead of fired from it). Miers apparently was running Bush's search for an associate justice, just as Dick Cheney was running his search for a running mate back in 2000. This guy likes to appoint people he already knows.

I guess my tentative thought about Miers is that we could have done much, much worse. An unknown is realistically not so bad for us. I couldn't help but crack a smile when I read in the Times that the Miers nomination reflects a president "struggling to avoid premature lame duck status." We're not in January 2004 anymore, Toto.

Oh: and I was, on balance, glad to see the Times article "Abortion Might Outgrow Its Need for Roe v. Wade". Yes, it may have minimized the potentially devastating consequences of a reversal on reproductive rights. But at least it's taking that possibility seriously instead of pretending we aren't faced with it. And it's of course true that we would not see a return to pre-1973 conditions simply because of changes in the available drugs and medical technologies. The article quotes an Arkansas abortion provider who predicts, "Rich women will fly to California; poor women will use Cytotec."

Thank you, Bob Herbert

"You never want to say that brave troops died for the mindless fantasies spun by a gang of dissembling, inept politicians. But what else did they die for?"

[please note you now have to be a paying "Times Select" subscriber to view columns]

Honoring elders

Here's me with Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon at the Gerber-Hart annual benefit tonight, which this year celebrated the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Daughters of Bilitis.