Lawyer Ted Olson has worked for Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, helping the latter secure the presidential win against former Vice President Al Gore.
Yet there he is, making the opening statement for plaintiffs looking to overturn California's ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8.
Who does he think he is, Earl Warren?
In an essay for Newsweek, Olson attempts to make American conservatives see reason for a change and convince them that marriage equality isn't a partisan political issue but instead fundamental to the understanding of the then-considered-liberal founding fathers' concept of freedom under the law.
Granted, he specifically cites the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which granted equal rights under the law to even former slaves, and traditionalist conservatives would probably disagree that was such a good idea in the first place (along with the 19th Amendment, the greatest mistake this country ever made according to one gay libertarian).
"The very idea of marriage is basic to recognition as equals in our society; any status short of that is inferior, unjust, and unconstitutional," Olson argues, nevermind the fact that until relatively recently women were treated far less than equally under marriage laws, especially concerning private property rights.
And after dissecting the fallacies presented as counterarguments, "the simple fact is that there is no good reason why we should deny marriage to same-sex partners." Amen, brother.
Regardless of what you think of marriage as an institution that is a kissing cousin to chattel slavery and represents the intrusion of the state into our private, personal lives, Olson's right. Not that anyone who voted for Proposition 8 probably cares.
