29th May , 2007

MICAH TILLMAN

United States

On 15th May, the California Supreme Court changed the legal definition of marriage for its state. Our federalist system in the US will keep that ruling from having any official effect on the other 49 states, but the unofficial effects are expected to be huge. “As goes California, so goes the country.”

"AS GOES CALIFORNIA, SO GOES THE COUNTRY": The California Supreme Court decision could have wide ramifications. PICTURE: Richard McMillan (www.sxc.hu) "We Americans tend to pride ourselves in chafing at being told what is right and wrong by others. It has something to do, I understand, with 'our' historic rebellion against European aristocracy. 'Judicial activism' and 'legislating from the bench' can seem very aristocratic to us."

What makes the decision particularly controversial is that the court overturned a law which was enacted by 61 percent of “the people” of California (who voted). The law was voted on at the ballot box, not in the Capital Building, and thus the court’s ruling is a rebuke to “the people” of California, not just their legislators.

Of course, not everyone in California took the ruling as a rebuke. The state in general, and San Francisco in particular, is (in)famous for being a center of gay culture. (Do you remember in Remember the Titans when Petey tries to turn some girls off Sunshine by telling them he’s “from California”?)

Many people, therefore, are ecstatic about the court’s decision.

On the conservative side, commentators have been decrying government interference in culture. Such decisions, they argue, should be made by “the people,” not by judges.

We Americans tend to pride ourselves in chafing at being told what is right and wrong by others. It has something to do, I understand, with “our” historic rebellion against European aristocracy. “Judicial activism" and “legislating from the bench” can seem very aristocratic to us.

But in contrast with this democratic part of our Americanism, we also tend to pride ourselves on doing what’s right no matter its popularity. Morality shouldn’t be put up to a majority vote; such things aren’t a matter of opinion.

So we often celebrate the lone rebel, the person who stood up for Truth when it was unpopular.

Needless to say, it’s confusing to be us, and the California Supreme Court ruling hasn’t made things any simpler. In fact, it intertwines with two issues which have been at the forefront of our current presidential campaign: gender and the word “we.”

Hilary Clinton, who has been struggling to win the nomination of the Democrats, has both bemoaned the unlevel playing which she’s faced as a woman and used her gender as a rallying cry.

Similarly, the gay marriage issue is actually a “gender-discrimination” question. Can government take a person’s gender into account or can’t it? Are the officials whom we ask for marriage licenses supposed to notice our genders (for example, whether they match, or are opposites) or not?

And if they do (or don’t), is this something “we” are doing? After all, our Constitution names our government, “We the People,” and Barack Obama - the other candidate for the Democrats’ nomination - has made a big deal out of the word “we.”

But since the California Supreme Court’s ruling only says what government must recognise as being a marriage - not what individuals or churches must so recognise - don’t we need to be careful? The American tendency to use the first-person plural when talking about government means we often feel both guilty for - and proud of - things that other people do (among other problems).

Some people think that the ruling will help John McCain, the Republicans’ nominee for president, in the November general election. I’m hoping it will get people to examine the way they speak and think about themselves.

Either way, things are going to be interesting (especially since the law overturned by the California Supreme Court will likely be put up for vote again this November as an amendment to California’s state constitution)...

Micah Tillman is a lecturer in the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America, and the curator of the WEeding Awards.

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