Michael Perelman:
Terrible news. Just the same reaction I felt when gay marriage came into the headlines, but this is even worse. The gay marriage ban created serious hardships for many people. I am no fan of religion, but when I was in school no one really took the pledge seriously.
[...]
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Yes.
The reflex is to applaud this as somehow being 'progressive'. In the end, it will only serve to energize the already well supplied, fully locked and loaded armies of reaction. Without ground level social change to provide a foundation, these sorts of rulings are easily dismissed as 'elitist' and vigorously attacked for full PR effect by the Right.
Dependence upon the courts as a primary instrument of policy is misguided.
This topic is covered rather well (with an emphasis on the Supreme Court) by Dan Lazare --
<http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/daniel_lazare>
during his recent interview with Doug:
<http://shout.lbo-talk.org/lbo/RadioArchive/2005/05_09_08_16.mp3>
.d.