SF Mayor Gavin Newsom – Right Or Wrong?

I am absolutely outraged at what is taking place in California at the moment – specifically, San Francisco. I suppose by now you’ve heard that the Mayor of SF (the newly-elected Gavin Newsom) ordered officials to issue licenses to same-sex couples, declaring that he was merely ensuring equal treatment of gays and lesbians.

WHAT? you ask. “Ordered”? Yep. Apparently, the mayor thinks he’s somehow above the law, despite the fact that California’s laws don’t state that two people of the same sex can get married.

I wonder how many people out there agree with what the mayor has done here? To gay marriage proponents: do you think this is ‘right’ to do because in your minds it’s the way the law should be? Or do you think this should have been taken through the democratic system our men fought and died for many moons ago? I’ve read at some places that have characterized this as some act of “rebellion” on the part of the gay couples – or “civil disobedience,” as Andrew Sullivan called it. But it’s not.

Think about it: this isn’t like the black men who defiantly sat at the segregated lunch counters. Those men weren’t “enabled” by a gov’t official who said “guys, look, I know it’s against the law, but you have my permission to sit at the lunch counter with the white people.” They sat there IN SPITE of the law (good for them, I might add). Mayor Newsom has effectively sidestepped any debate amongst the people, the state legislature of CA and ultimately the Supreme Court in CA by doing this. The mayor is the one who engaging in “civil disobedience,” not the gay couples. He has enabled them with the right to get married by his actions.

Think about it this way: some may think that what’s going on in SF right now is ‘right’ because it’s the ‘right thing to do’ but how would the pro-gay marriage groups feel if President Bush issued an executive order declaring that a marriage is supposed to consist of a man and a woman, foregoing the system? I pray gay marriage proponents are not advocating what’s happening in SF – Mayor Newsom is taking the slow route to tyranny, IMO. Gay marriage proponents are NOT going to gain more acceptance by going along with something like this. Proponents forget that something like this not only emboldens gay couples, but it will embolden opponents of gay marriage as well. Think about the fencesitters: would they advocate a mayor going above the law in order to grant a right to someone?

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