Thursday, June 27, 2013

DOMA, Scalia, and fair defeat.

In the Winsor case, Scalia's peroration in his dissent reads:

"Some will rejoice in today’s decision, and some will despair at it; that is the nature of a controversy that matters so much to so many. But the Court has cheated both sides, robbing the winners of an honest victory, and the losers of the peace that comes from a fair defeat."

What an bit of claptrap. The majority of the Supreme Court handed victory to the to the pro-gay marriage side (the end part of Scalia's dissent is largely about how the decision is designed to make sure that states also cannot discriminate). And this in turn means that people will not be allowed to vote on the rights of gay people and thereby deprive them of an honest victory. -- You aren't suppose to vote on the rights of other people, that's what makes them rights. Having victory tied up into a neat little package with a bow already affixed is an honest victory. The idea that we should discriminate until the tyranny of the majority can be prevented by changing minds all the way to Mississippi is idiotic. You don't get to let bigotry delegate people to second class citizenship, and you certainly shouldn't allow people to vote on whether other people have rights or not. And having the courts say that that isn't fair, is an honest victory, you don't need to change the minds of bigots to win the game honestly. Fuck bigots. You don't get to vote on people's rights.

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