Tim Rutten (author of the below article) adopts the position that I have heard from many in the No crowd regarding the potential for gay marriage to clash with religious liberties, that is, "it could never happen." In support of this argument Mr. Rutten states that there is no legal precedent that would allow a court to infringe on religious liberties in the name of protecting "gay rights."
Mr. Rutten does not understand how the judicial system works. Judges make unsupported new precedent all of the time. That is exactly what the California Supreme Court did in the In re Marriage Cases. There was no legal precedent permitting gay marriage, but the Court applied the cases relating to interracial marriage in order to justify supporting gay marriage.
The case involving the physician (to which Mr. Rutten refers) can easily be used as precedent to infringe on religious liberties. All it takes is a savvy litigator and a judge with an agenda. Case law is developed step-by-step. Speculation that it could never happen is a weak argument and unsupported by over 200 years of case law development in the United States.
Further, a Legislature bolstered by the defeat of Proposition 8 could very well extend the anti-discrimination laws to preclude religious organizations from discriminating. Is that likely to happen right away? Probably not, but again, it is step-by-step.
If Proposition 8 fails, it is not if, but when, courts and/or the Legislature begin to deprive us of our religious liberties.
Extra help for California's Prop. 8
The GOP ticket could add fire to the state fight over same-sex marriage.
The McCain-Palin ticket's decision to renew hostilities in the culture wars seems likely to increase the already considerable national profile of a hotly contested California proposition dealing with same-sex marriage.
More here.
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