California Supreme Court Legalizes Gay Marriage

The California Supreme Court legalizes gay marriage. I endorse this, of course. Republicans are, no doubt, going to raise (once again) the specter of activist courts and "the gay agenda" as a campaign issue. I don't think it will work, and here's why:

1. It didn't work last time. Congressional Republicans tried this tactic in 2006, after its putative success in 2004. It failed to stop the big Democratic wave then, and it was even voted down in Arizona, which is not exactly a left-wing state. Even in South Dakota it only carried by about 10%. Perhaps it's changing attitudes to homosexuality, perhaps the issue has merely run its course, perhaps people realize we've got bigger fish to fry. There was an equivalent potential catalyst in 2006, too, when the New Jersey Supreme Court mandated civil unions. It might turn out more ultraconservatives to the polls, but they'll probably vote for McCain anyway.
2. McCain's issue ain't exactly right-wing orthodox on gays. He might move to the right, but John McCain was (and possibly still is) against an amendment banning gay marriage, supposedly on federalist grounds. He won't be able to do the Dobson-Rove smearing because of his own centrism on the issue, and it's unclear to me that he wants to. Maybe he'll break with one of the Republican party's most despicable uses of identity politics? At the very least, Democrats ought to be able to muddy the waters a little bit and say McCain's been in the middle on the issue and turn it into a character/flip-flopping question.
3. The sky hasn't fallen yet. Gay marriage has been legal in Massachusetts for four years, and yet society still stands.
   

This is an important moment, and I'm glad my state is going to stop denying an entirely reasonable right to people just because some other people don't like it. Homosexuality is neither immoral nor objectionable, nor unnatural--hundreds of different animal species exhibit homosexual behavior to varying extents, including man. This belies the idea that it's a "choice". That Republicans have decided to demonize gay people for the past decade as a political strategy is one of the most despicable chapters in the history of that party, and the willingness to invade states' rights and individual liberties, not to mention the whole idea that there's some sort of gay agenda to destroy our society in order to crack down on gay rights as a path to electoral success belies the reality of the Republican party: they don't care a whit about any of these principles, or justice, or fairness, or kindness, or even love of fellow human beings. It's just about winning. This merely underscores the importance of removing this group from power. It's why I'm no longer a Republican. Well, partially. But it was a big part.