For me, one of the most striking idiotic comments about the repeal of Prop 8 was this quote from Judge Alito:

Justice Samuel Alito urged caution during oral arguments on California’s Proposition 8 Tuesday against a sweeping decision on gay marriage, saying that it is a concept that is “newer than cell phones or the Internet.”

“Traditional marriage has been around for thousands of years. Same-sex marriage is very new,” Alito told Solicitor General Donald Verrilli,

It may be true that same-sex marriage has not been legal anywhere for much longer than cell phones have been around, the reality is that gay male couples and lesbian cupels, as well as numerous single queer parents have been raising children for a very, very, long time.

Very few times, I write this on my blog, but WTF?

To be honest, I would have expected a judge like Alito to be fairly bone-headed in this case, but this surpasses the level of bone-headedness, I expected.

The earliest experience I ever had of a “gay parent” was my friend Larry, who I met when I was still in college back in 1979.  Larry was a guy in his mid 40’s who came out, and got divorced after having had three kids. At that point the kids were junior high aged, and as much as their mother tried to vilify Larry, the kids were very supportive, and in fact after a few years, chose to live with Larry and his partner rather than with their mother. I lost track of Larry in the early ’90’s but by then he had put most of his kids through college, and they were off living their own lives.

Repeal of Prop 8, and the legalization of same-sex marriage is critically important because same-sex parented families exist and function every day in every state of our country without the legal rights and protections of other families. All children deserve the stability of legal protection for their families, regardless if they have gay or straight parents.

The other comment I want to share about bone-head Alito’s remark is this: the Court is asked to rule on the validity of the Prop 8 proponent’s arguments as of right now. And we can know, if today, there is or isn’t evidence of same-sex marriage harming the institution of marriage or harming families. No such evidence exists. The newness or lack there of, is irrelevant.

If the Court wishes to protect children from what can harm their family file, they out to outlaw divorce. Judge Alito- you up for that?

via Alito Compares Gay Marriage To Cell Phones, Internet – Business Insider.

Photo By Italian Embassy