Marriage Equality before NJ Supreme Court

C.E. Dorsett

[sigh] I have mixed emotions about this:

Lambda Legal faced the seven justices of the New Jersey Supreme Court in a packed courtroom Wednesday for oral arguments in the Garden State's freedom-to-marry lawsuit (Gay.com).

While I do believe that we desperately need marriage equality in this country, I have my concerns about the use of the courts to obtain our constitutional rights. My concern is with the radicalization of the right wing when we use the courts.

I wish I could offer an alternative, but the radical right in this country are becoming increasingly dangerous, as seen in the recent attacks on Gay bars. The courts may help us obtain our due rights, but they also hurt our public image, and in this shallow world, image is everything.

We need to take a stand, and make the hate unacceptable in polite discourse or any victory in the court can be overturned by constitutional amendments. We have to win hearts and minds or our rights will never be secured.