This week, in spite of the pouring rain and the howling wind, Bowdoin students headed into town to participate, often for the first time, in the most important element of any democracy: they went to vote.
Such enthusiasm for the democratic process was a welcome sight, especially because of the importance of this year’s ballot questions.
However, it is important to remember that your obligations to democracy do not end after you cast your vote. The regularity of the U.S. election cycle means that for many, the inter-election years are devoid of politics. Coming from Switzerland, where we vote in national referenda on average four times per year, this off-season apathy always seemed odd to me. Because the Swiss vote so often, participation is generally low, between 35 and 45 percent. Despite that, matters that generate public interest do get higher turnout. In 2005, a referendum to grant gay couples the right to civil unions passed with 58 percent of the vote and a national participation rate of around 56 percent.
I hope that we can similarly support gay marriage in Maine; The outcome here may set an example for the rest of the country. As the Orient’s editorial board noted last week, “as Maine goes, so goes the nation.”
Fifty years ago all non-heterosexual relations were classified as felonies in every state. School children were shown films in which homosexuality was demonised. In 1987, exactly 25 years ago, more than two-thirds of Americans believed that gay and lesbian relations should be illegal. Now, the numbers are completely reversed. I am thankful that those narrow-minded, discriminatory views have been mostly consigned to the history books, and it is heartening to see how much perceptions of the LGBTQIA community have changed in the past half-century.
All the same, more than half of the states, including Maine (for now) have laws that prevent same-sex couples from getting married. This state of affairs would be farcical were it not so appalling, anachronistic and shameful. Here is a nation whose very foundation was based around the principle of the equality of all, yet which continues to actively discriminate against countless numbers of citizens.
Even more problematic than the state-by-state laws is the infamous 1996 “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA), which defines marriage at a federal level as “a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.” This preposterous example of governmental overreach should be a sobering reminder of the perils of being beholden to the tyranny of the majority. DOMA’s passing wasn’t demonstrative of democracy; it was mere pandering to the mob. Lawmakers failed to even consider the hardship this would place upon same-sex couples in the United States, especially when it came to dealing with the tax system following the death of a partner.
In New York, Edith Windsor, an 83-year old widow received an inheritance tax bill some “$360,000 higher than it would have been if the federal government recognized her same-sex marriage.” She chose to sue the government and has been successful so far. Her most recent victory came on October 18, when the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that DOMA’s provisions were unconstitutional as they deprived Windsor of her rights under the 14th Amendment. This ruling brings the number of courts that agree DOMA is unconstitutional to ten.
It always struck me as somewhat hypocritical for the US to lecture other countries about human rights abuses and prejudice, while it continues to discriminate against people based merely on their sexual orientation. Yet these policies will not last much longer: President Obama ordered the Department of Justice to stop defending DOMA in court and the number of states allowing gay marriage continues to increase, slowly but surely.
So as you go to the voting booth over the coming days, think of how far the rights of sexual minorities in this country have progressed, and how far they have yet to go. Maine voters have an opportunity this Tuesday to show the country that the puritanical, backward views of old have no place in our society.