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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/38173/full/38173/same-sex-marriage-is-a-moral-issue-worth-fighting-for/ <br /><br /> <b>Same-sex marriage is a moral issue worth fighting for</b> <br /> Thursday, May 28, 2009 | by <br /><br /><p>With the California Supreme Court this week upholding Proposition 8, civil rights champions lost a battle. But they have not lost the war.</p> <p>Last year, we consistently editorialized in support of legal same-sex marriage and against Proposition 8.  We concede that the court this week ruled in a manner consistent with the law. In fact, it had little choice but to rule as it did, given the constraints of the system in California.</p> <p>That still doesn’t make Prop 8 right. Thus, the streets of San Francisco filled with protesters throughout the day May 26, when the court’s decision was announced. Dozens of Jews, including rabbis and representatives of various local Jewish organizations, took part, with three local rabbis among those arrested for civil disobedience.</p> <p>Without a doubt, proponents of same-sex marriage will be back with another ballot measure, either in 2010 or 2012. And no matter the outcome of that election, both sides will then gear up for further punches and counterpunches.</p> <p>Clearly this is a political battle neither side is willing to lose.</p> <p>Some Jewish voices, particularly from within the Orthodox movement, strenuously oppose same-sex marriage. That is their right.</p> <p>However, Reform and many Conservative Jews have been in the forefront of the fight to make same-sex marriage legal throughout the country. As long as same-sex marriage does not infringe on the religious rights of others –– and it does not –- then we see no rational reason to oppose it.</p> <p>At a protest rally May 26 at Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco, Jewish Community Relations Council executive director Rabbi Doug Kahn spoke for the organized Jewish community.</p> <p>He said, “The central moral idea from which our unalterable commitment to full civil rights springs — that all human being are created in the image of God — informs our passion for marriage equality, as does the belief that marriage is too sacred an institution to be denied to two people in love.”</p> <p>We fully agree. While the political and legal battle rages on, we stress yet again the moral component of this issue. No matter how one personally feels about same-sex marriage, it is deeply unfair to deny to one class of people certain rights freely granted to another class of people. This is unsustainable in a free democracy, and it cannot stand.</p> <p>Some day we will see same-sex marriage rights permanently granted in California. We are pleased and proud that so many in the Jewish community are among those leading the charge.</p>

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