On May 26, the California Supreme Court announced its 6-to-1 ruling upholding Prop. 8. The homophobic, reactionary ballot initiative passed in November stripped lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of their right to marry in California by amending the state constitution. The decision also upheld the 18,000 same-sex marriages that took place in California before the passage of Prop. 8, stating that the ruling would not apply retroactively.
|
The Court’s collusion with reactionary elements that promoted the homophobic Prop. 8 is nothing short of a complete outrage. The “middle-of-the-road” decision to uphold 18,000 existing marriages will not deter the struggle of the LGBT community and its supporters for full rights for all.
At the same time Prop. 8 passed in the November elections, a number of similar anti-LGBT initiatives passed in other states—some even banning adoption by LGBT couples. Progressive activists and LGBT advocates hoped that the Court would be the arena where the people would win justice and equality. There was faith that the Court would find the stripping of civil rights at the ballot box unconstitutional.
Those illusions were shattered.
The May 26 announcement has reaffirmed a long-standing truth: The LGBT community, and all oppressed people, cannot depend on any branch of the capitalist government to guarantee our rights. The California Supreme Court is a tiny, elite body of seven wealthy men and women. There can be no rationale that allows them to rule on the rights of millions of LGBT workers who suffer enduring and systemic discrimination.
Our voices will be heard
Following their November ballot victory, the high-profile backers of Prop. 8 declared “the people had spoken.” Yet the entire campaign was financed and backed by wealthy, right-wing elements who used the most duplicitous tactics, including outright lies, to drive up support for the bigoted measure. Allowing a simple majority vote to decide who is or is not entitled to fundamental civil rights is a slap in the face to the millions who have fought for equal protection under the law.
Since the passage of Prop. 8 in California, a number of states in the country have moved in the opposite direction. Iowa and Maine are the most recent of five states to legalize same-sex marriage. Others, including New York and the District of Columbia, have made moves toward marriage equality.
These developments are the legal reflection of the gains of the LGBT struggle. They have given the movement strength and momentum to push forward the demand for federal recognition of marriage equality. The decision to uphold Prop. 8 in California, a trend-setting state in terms of legislation, is a real setback for the national struggle for same-sex marriage.
One thing, however, remains true: We can—and will—win. The decision to uphold Prop. 8 has only renewed our commitment to win marriage equality and full rights for LGBT people. That message rang more loudly than any other as people took to the streets across the country following the announcement of the decision.
In the course of this struggle, the LGBT community has been infused with a new sense of militancy and commitment to building an independent and unified civil rights movement in the streets. A new generation of militant activists in the struggle for LGBT liberation was set into motion virtually overnight when Prop. 8 passed in November 2008.
On May 26, this new generation once again came out in the tens of thousands, and with more righteous anger than before. The devastating disappointment felt by the LGBT community and their supporters was palpable. But for the thousands who took to the streets immediately following the announcement, that disappointment quickly turned to a sense of empowerment and control over our own lives.
The struggle now is to sustain this new movement. Every attempt to co-opt our movement by those who would quell its militancy and lead it out of the streets, every attempt to convince the LGBT community to sit back and wait for another ballot initiative, every attempt to pit the LGBT community and other oppressed communities against each other must be vigorously rejected and defeated.
Every victory for oppressed people throughout history has been a product of a community mobilizing itself to demand their rights. Desegregation and women’s suffrage were products of grassroots civil rights movements directed against a system of discrimination, not popular votes.
In the months that come, challenges to Prop. 8 will materialize both on the ballot and in the courtrooms. They will create opportunities for our movement to rally our forces and raise our demands, but we must not let the lessons of history go unheeded. Prop. 8 will only be defeated in the streets.
The old labor quote that states, “An injury to one is an injury to all,” is the spirit in which the PSL participates in the struggle for marriage equality and LGBT liberation. What is needed now is a united, independent movement. Our task is clear, and our fight is just. There can be no concessions in the struggle for civil rights.
Join us in the streets to demand full equality!
