Living in the state of Arizona gives us a lot to look forward to, including a couple-hours drive from one of the Seven Wonders of the World, no snow in winter and stubborn legal confrontations that often leave spectators wondering how lawmakers with so little knowledge of the Constitution got elected.
Wait. Scratch that last one. That’s not something we look forward to; rather something we deal with.
This week an appeals court blocked implementation of a 2009 Arizona law that would have stripped health care benefits from same-sex partners working within the state government.
Aside from being blatantly discriminatory, the law, as the ruling showed, is also unconstitutional.
The 14th Amendment does not let States “make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States” or “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
We deny same-sex partners, who have made a life commitment to each other, the same benefits we give to married couples, which have also made a life commitment.
Is this equal protection of the law? Nope. Arizona’s flawed and prejudiced understanding of the Constitution? You bet.
Gay and lesbian couples are just as much citizens of this country as their straight counterparts. They shouldn’t be treated as second-class citizens under the law.
Reactions coming from the governor’s office show no sign that this inability to understand English will let up.
Reuters reported that Matthew Benson, a spokesman for Gov. Jan Brewer, said this decision "‘flies in the face of logic and the law’ and grants more benefits to same-sex partners than straight couples.”
Advocates of this law maintain that it gives special privileges to gay and lesbian couples because they can get benefits, but opposite-sex partners can’t. Not only is this train of thought ludicrous, it doesn’t take into account the fact that gay and lesbian can’t get married in Arizona but straight couples can.
If getting “more benefits” means being discriminated against, gay and lesbian couple would probably be happy to just get married like everyone else, but that isn’t possible in Arizona.
In 2008, Arizona voters amended the state constitution via Prop 102 to read: “Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state.”
It made the process to legalize gay marriage much more difficult.
From here forward, Arizona would save itself both the embarrassment and the money when it comes to supporting laws that are blatantly unconstitutional. Understanding the social contract that governs this nation would just be too much to ask, wouldn’t it?
Some call this a victory for the gay community, and while it is, we should not forget what we are really fighting for: the notion that gay and lesbian couples deserve equal protection under the law.
Victory cannot be claimed until it is unquestionable that they have the same rights and benefits that straight people have.
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