Chris Moss Online

More than 16 months after hearing arguments in a consolidated case, the Washington Supreme Court ruled against same-gender marriage.

I have downloaded (.pdf versions) the decision as well as all the concurring and dissenting opinions. I’ve read the decision, highlighting and noting key points along the way. Essentially, the court ruled that the state, by way of enacting DOMA in 1998, had a legitimate interest (promoting procreation and providing a nurturing environment for children) in granting special rights (marriage) on heterosexuals. The court also said that gays and lesbians are not discriminated against because they have the same right as everyone else to marry someone of the opposite gender.

Further, the court concluded that gays and lesbians are not a “suspect class” meaning needing protection from discrimination. The court’s primary basis for that finding is that gays and lesbians are not “politically powerless” because there are elected officials who are gay or lesbian and that certain laws protecting gays and lesbians have recently been enacted.

All in all, it’s a surprisingly political and basically chicken-shit ruling that, at it’s core, is rooted in the same discriminations the plaintiffs complained about in the first place.

I am deeply disappointed and discouraged, and frankly, disgusted in the ruling, particularly because Washington is a relatively liberal state. This result, combined with a similar ruling in New York recently, are significant setbacks on this issue. However, it solidifies the opinion that James and I have shared for many years that the segments of our LGBT community pushing for marriage (now) are mis-guided in their efforts. We have come a very long way in the past ten or so years. We are continuing to experiencing a rising pushback that started a few years ago and shows no signs of abating. Our efforts should be focused on achieving civil unions so that we can have some rights sooner rather than none at all. Once we have rights via civil unions then we can work on the next step.

An opportunity for one of those quick trips I love presented itself last week. On the Friday before last, very late in the day (just before 5pm), a new claim came in. The damage needed to be inspected pretty quickly, so I woke up at 4:30 on Tuesday morning and caught an early flight to Rochester, NY via O’Hare. The area was surprisingly pretty once I got outside of Rochester (the location was about 45 miles east).

After inspecting the damage, the owner of the company took me for a tour of the area, then took me to her house, introduced me to her husband and three cats, and offered me wine and cheese.
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This will be the last post about this year’s Key West trip. I guess in about six months, I’ll start pining for our next trip
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Isn’t it really standard operating procedure anymore for the media to try and scare us about everything? We all know what happened to the space shuttle Columbia a few years back, and we don’t need constant reminders in every single story about the current mission. Every story I’ve read about even the most mundane thing about the space shuttle includes something like this statement, which was in the final paragraph of a news story about what the Discovery crew did today:

Columbia’s seven astronauts were killed during re-entry when fiery gases entered a breach in the shuttle’s wing.

This shows up in every story, almost like the disclaimer that is automatically appended to the end of every e-mail sent from my company’s e-mail server.

Saturday was Bobby & Ian’s day. We awoke to pouring rain, which tapered off by 10 and held off until the evening. They had the most gorgeous and happy ceremony at the Hemingway House about 10:30 in the morning. Lots of pictures are on James’s Flickr account, and available here. The ceremony was relatively short but very sweet, followed by champagne toasts and then lots of pictures. Then, we headed to Square One Restaurant for the reception. This is Bobby & Ian’s reception we’re talking about here, so of course it was open bar. James and I and some of the other friends arrived a bit early so that photos of the happy couple could be taken with family and then just them. We were a bit thirsty since it was humid out, so we had some water. A bit later, Bobby’s brother, Tim, arrived and he ordered a mojito. Then it was all over. Many drinks were consumed, a festive time was had, and a scrumptious lunch was served. The boys cut their cake while the guests blew bubbles. It was a great time!
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In addition to the bars, restaurants and crap shacks on Duval St in Key West, there are quite a few stores where local artists offer their handiwork for sale. One of the better ones is a “co-op” called 7 Artists. Works from seven different artists is available, each with very different styles. My favorite is actually a guy called Egg but we’re not quite ready to throw down that much for sculpture. It would definitely be worth it, but will have to wait a bit.

We satisfied our need for some local art by picking up some prints that reminded us of our dogs. The prints are just beautiful, but by coincidence they are also eerily similar to our actual dogs. So, these two now hang proudly over the dogs’ eating area.

The artist is David Scott Meier, and as it turns out, I love his stuff, too. Check out his website from the link above. I suspect there will be more of his work in our house one day, too. It’s all very creative, fresh and happy. I really like the “Prayer For Rain” and “Moonsong” also.