Bill Cullen writes: > This morning Gov. Schwarzenegger was on Meet The Press. Tim Russert (the > host) asked the Governor about the issue of gay marriages. Without taking a > stand on the issue, he made an excellent point. The Gov said a mayor cannot > decide to break state law. He then asked a rhetorical question: What > should be done if a Mayor decides to hand out drugs or guns.
Actually, Bill, I don't believe it is a valid analogy. One of the judges who refused to halt SF's gay marriages made a truly valid point: this is a civil rights issue. Handing out drugs or guns is not. The mayor of San Francisco is being civilly disobedient, in effect sitting in at the lunch counter of this nation's double standard for homosexuals. (As a man, I can civlly marry a woman but not a man - tell me the state isn't discriminating against me based on my sex.) San Francisco welcomes a legal judgment based on California's constitution (which, by the way, may trump a voter-approved statute that defines marriage as man-woman.) Civil rights is not the same as anarchy, which handing out drugs or guns probably is - that's why California judges haven't thrown SF's case out on summary judgement. To bring this back to a Minneapolis context - if the city chooses to engage in such civil disobedience, is the Minnesota constitution as potentially hospitable, and if Minneapolis "goes there," how severely would we be punished at the state level? After all, sitting in a lunch counter often earned retribution. David Brauer Kingfield REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
