9th Circuit Court of Appeals: Still looney after all these years

[Tchaiko]

(02-10-2012 12:09 AM)myotch Wrote:  

Tchaiko Wrote:I'm disappointed to hear that Civil Rights™ was copyrighted by the black community. It would have been nice for all citizens to be able to campaign for rights, but they got there first, so (at least according to one competent voice on here) teh gayz aren't allowed. Oh, wait. . . If we went by those rules, women shouldn't have been allowed to campaign for suffrage. . . Hmm.

Civil rights applies to every single person who can claim protection under the Constitution. Opponents of gay marriage, however, don't see a ban on gay marriage as a civil right. The comparison of gay marriage to 60's civil rights or to the suffrage movement falls flat on it's face. No one is saying gays can't be gays, gays can't vote, or gays have to sit at the back of the bus. I guess everyone here, and I will include Greg as well, believe those who physically assault gays should be prosecuted under state laws regarding assault. I believe gays have the right to speech, assembly, religion and conscious, the right to guns (http://www.pinkpistols.org), rights against the quartering of soldiers, a right to a trial by jury, and rights against excessive punishment, fines, and prosecution. I have a hard time seeing where, constitutionally, gays have a civil rights issue regarding the government not recognizing gay unions.

I understand that. I was referring more specifically to where it was indicated by our beloved colleague that gays had "hijacked" Civil Rights. The idea that the gays can't use the same term as the blacks just because there are differences in the movements is ridiculous.

And with respect, your last sentence could have been accurately said about black people, too. The Constitution never says anything about seating on buses or which door you walk into. They had "the right to speech, assembly, religion and conscious, the right to guns, rights against the quartering of soldiers, a right to a trial by jury, and rights against excessive punishment, fines, and prosecution" in the 60s, too. But that didn't mean that they were equal.

We have to realize something. And that something is the wonderful clause in the Bill of Rights. Amendment 9: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." The issue has nothing to do with whether or not the Constitution allows me to marry. The government does not give me the right to do things. I have the right to do things because I am a human being. And to say that Civil Rights only applies to things clearly stated in Amendments 1-8 is a gross fallacy.