Front Page Billing for Maryland

This is the most front page Maryland I've seen on a non-Maryland news source site or paper. When gay marriage was upheld in referendum we had to share the glory with some other states. But now here we are:

As the Governor, Martin O'Malley, put it, "Evidence shows that the death penalty is not a deterrent, it cannot be administered without racial bias, and it costs three times as much as life in prison without parole." Not to mention, as was communicated by the presence of an exonerated death row inmate at the signing, it can't be administered without killing innocent people. So woo.

Actually far more important is the 260,000 people dying in the East African famine during 2010-12. For some reference the UN estimates around 70,000 people have died in Syria's civil war in the past two years. The UN has many early warning famine indicators, and they did see the famine coming. But rich countries didn't want to help out any until it was a popular story in the news.

Also apparently the ECB has realized monetary policy is too tight and has made it a quarter percent less too tight.

So, the election, requisite post:

Obama wins, about 52% in the popular vote but barely a dent in his Electoral College count from last time, etc.

Conservatives: will blame Romney for not being conservative enough. One of the few relative "moderates" left has some insight on that:

“If I hear anybody say it was because Romney wasn’t conservative enough I’m going to go nuts. We’re not losing 95% of African-Americans and two-thirds of Hispanics and voters under 30 because we’re not being hard-ass enough.” – Lindsey Graham

But they’ll probably say that anyway despite two senate elections lost due to very conservative candidates' offensive ignorance about women and rape. Also worth mentioning: the states of Washington and Colorado decided to pursue sensible public policy by legalizing and regulating the sale and possession of marijuana.

Anyway, what about Maryland? In Maryland voters upheld a law giving illegal immigrants a pathway to receive in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities. I’ve recently posted on the benefits of immigration and the difficulties of legal immigration. And education is the ultimate public good, higher levels of education make everyone better off. Additionally, Marylanders voted to uphold the state law allowing same sex marriages, or rather, upheld a law allowing equal access to the legal status given to people who receive marriage licenses. Maryland is indeed a great state, where a majority of people came out to vote for better public policy and the furthering of equality before the law. 

In fact election night was a big night for gay rights and equality. After losing every previous referendum on gay marriage, referendums supported it in Maryland, Maine, and Washington; and a referendum to establish a constitutional ban on gay marriage in Minnesota failed – a veritable sweep. Furthermore, voters in Wisconsin elected Tammy Baldwin to the senate. Unless a current senator comes out in the next couple months she will be the first openly gay U.S. senator. All in all, a good night for progress.

Gay Marriage

The bill legalizing gay marriage in Maryland has been signed into law. It is a wonderful expansion of the civil rights Marylanders are entitled to. It's nice that Maryland has joined the ranks of those who support civil rights. Unfortunately, the bill will undoubtedly be challenged in a referendum. I'm not against the referendum process per se, but the rights of anyone should never be put up to a popular vote.

But what about the argument that marriage is a religious institution and thus protected by the separation of church and state? That would be just fine if the state had never gotten into the habit of recognizing a religious institution and giving married couples numerous subsidies and special legal rights. Idealistically I think the state shouldn’t recognize marriage at all. And if it would like to give certain relationships special privileges it could do so through civil unions that anyone can join into with any number of people (yes, I’m saying polygamy should be included). In return the state should have no say in what a religious group wants to define marriage as or who they wish to marry. What should that matter to a religious person? Shouldn’t the material benefits be of little consequence? If a religious couple wants the best of both worlds they can enter into a civil union and marriage.

But since the state has decided to use the same terminology, it cannot discriminate based on religious grounds. At this point allowing gay couples to have “the same” rights and benefits under a different name is a blatant use of “Separate but Equal”. The people who are against gay marriage for religious reasons should therefore be against the state recognizing marriages at all. But, in large part they support the government effectively endorsing their religious interpretations. In doing so, they're supporting an over-powerful government so long as it serves their purposes.

The state should accept the people who compose it as who they are. The people of the state should accept that there is diversity. And in order to live prosperously and peacefully the state should be limited to ensure the freedom of individuals to be who they are. And arguments about the harm gay marriage will do are ignorant, hateful bullshit.