Federal judge overturns California’s gay marriage ban

  As everyone has heard by now, a federal judge has overturned California’s gay marriage ban. I have made my feelings about gay marriage known in my “About Me” page in some depth, so I am not going to go into it again other than to say that while I oppose gay marriage, I feel gay marriage is an issue that should be left up to the states–and the people of the individual states– to decide; my biggest issue surrounding gay marriage is the fact that I want to see the proper constitutional procedure followed.

  My problem with gay marriage in California is directly related to the manner in which it became legalized the first time. The California Supreme Court legalized gay marriage–in effect creating state policy instead of interpreting policy. If gay marriage was to be legalized in California it should have been done by creating a law which would have legalized it, not by a court decision.

  Once the court created gay marriage out of thin air, the people of California–who, along with the states, under the 10th amendment have the right to decide issues not granted to the federal government–voted against gay marriage, making a marriage in the state of California specifically between one man and one woman. This was their right, and whether you agree with this or not, this was the proper procedure as outlined in the California constitution.

  But now a federal judge has overturned a law that the people of California wanted, again overstepping their rightful constitutional authority. If the legislators in California wanted to make gay marriage legal, they had the means and the right to do so; pass a law, but do not let the courts find a “right” that is non-existant in the constitution of the state.

  I know what I am about to say is at odds with the feelings of a majority of conservatives, but I consider myself a constitutionalist, a state’s right advocate, and an originalist first, and because of this I feel that if a state legalizes gay marriage using the proper procedures, so be it. My biggest problem with this ruling is not the fact that gay marriage was legalized in California, but rather in the fact that I do not believe the proper procedure was followed.

  Legalized gay marriage does not affect me or my life one bit and when you look at all of the problems this country has moving forward, gay marriage is way down on the list of priorities, but what does affect EVERY American citizen is when the constitution is abandoned– and I feel it was in this case.