Gay Marry Me, America!!!!!

I was disappointed and, just as its author predicted, stung to read Jonathan Rauch's NY Times Op-ed piece on Elena Kagan and Gay Marriage yesterday:
www.nytimes/2010/07/03/opinion/03rauch.html

One would think that Rauch, the author of the 2004 book "Gay Marriage: Why it is good for Gays, Good for Straights and Good for America" would be just a tad supportive of the Supreme Court finally doing away with such bullshit as DOMA and making gay marriage the law of the land.
But the surprisingly conservative Rauch believes that there are other things just as or even more important than civil rights, such as "the meaning of marriage" the "pace of change in a conflicted society" and "who gets to decide".

Really? Those strange, abstract, ephemeral things are more important than my marriage? I'm not sure I can go along with that, Jonnie Rauch.
What is truly sad is that Rauch still maintains this belief even after describing in two poignant paragraphs the horrible injustices he and his husband must under-go everyday in their hometown of Virginia, where their Washington DC marriage instantly evaporates and they are regarded as little more than roommates.
I see federal laws like DOMA as government-mandated bigotry, plain and simple. And it's wrong. And it needs to go. Now.
Is everyone going to like it? Of course not. But those people can go fuck themselves.
I seem to recall that not everyone was keen on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which got rid of the Jim Crow laws. And not everyone was keen on interracial marriage. Or gung-ho about letting women vote. And I remember reading somewhere that we had a Civil War because half the country still thought SLAVERY was a great idea.

Gay marriage is just like all those things. It is a RIGHT, and it is a CIVIL RIGHT.
So why should we treat it any differently, with kid gloves, afraid of pushing forward too quickly? So we won't hurt the feelings of a few aging homophobes whose lives aren't effected ONE BIT by any of this?
We are going to look back on all this and say "What the fuck were we even THINKING?"
And you know, I would be fine with Congress doing it, a la The 19th Amendment. OK. Fine.
We did it in Massachusetts. The Court passed it, and then our legislators passed on amending our constitution. We won it, fair and square.
But please don't tell me that you want the COUNTRY to vote on it, like some 4th grade popularity contest. Sorry, but I don't want some uninformed idiot who voted for George Bush TWICE to vote on whether I can get married or not.
Rauch maintains that it's important for "the people" to vote on such things as gay marriage. That they will turn around someday and pass the laws all by themselves.
Well that's just great. And maybe if I wish real hard I'll get a pony.
The truth is, the Majority should not have the right to vote on whether a minority should have rights or not. It is up to the Courts to protect minorities, it's their JOB, as part of the system of checks and balances that protects minorities from the tyranny of the masses.
Right now there are 1,100 civil rights that are being denied to us because of the Federal Ban. And that's WITH a Massachusetts marriage.
All this is just my little way of saying:
HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!!!!!!!!