Marcos Breton: Prop. 8 debate lofty and painful

By Marcos
Published: Sunday, Mar. 8, 2009 - 2:00 am Page 1B


It comes down to your perspective.
Many of us were fascinated by the spectacle of California Supreme Court justices debating the polarizing issue of gay marriage.
It reinforced our belief in the power of ideas argued with respect for the rule of law.
The passionate sometime spew bile when discussing Proposition 8 – the voter-approved initiative that bans same-sex marriage in California. But it was different when the matter was argued before the state's highest court.
"I have been blessed (with being) in the presence of popes, presidents, governors and royalty. (This) left me with a similar feeling of awe," said Frank Schubert, the Sacramento consultant who ran the successful Yes on Prop. 8 campaign. "Here I am with a front row seat, 20 feet from seven people in whom we entrust vast power, counting on them to exercise that power with wisdom. This is the ultimate personification of the 'consent of the governed.' "
It was, depending on your perspective.
In Placerville, Charlotte Higgins avoided the historic proceedings completely, even though she is married to another woman.
Thursday's hearing was about Higgins' life. Consequently, she couldn't watch in detached awe. She decided it would be impossible to marvel at legal theories directly related to her expression of love.
Honestly. These are extraordinary times.
Hollywood perverts the idea of marriage with pimped-up odes to matrimony – "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?"
Popular culture celebrates looking for love in all the wrong places. At 60, Higgins has found love in one place, with one person, for 36 years.
Imagine her – an adolescent in 1960s, Southern Baptist Alabama – knowing she was different. And then imagine finding love with another woman, as Higgins did, in 1973, with Irene Goleski.
Then it was about hiding her love and once being spat upon in San Francisco. She experienced rejection in churches of faith because she showed faith in her love.
After careers in finance in San Francisco, Higgins and Goleski retired to Placerville, where instead of rejecting those who scorned them, they embraced them.
Higgins recalls swallowing thoughtless words, and vowing to win people over one at a time. "We changed some minds, others we didn't."
Charlotte and Irene were married on Nov. 1, just before Prop. 8 passed.
"It was so extraordinary and so emotional to experience something that has been denied to us," Higgins said.
So why skip the hearing?
"It's too painful," Higgins said. "The scab from the passage of Prop. 8 was starting to disappear. This was like pulling it off."
It's impossible for her to appreciate the debate – no matter how regal. She doesn't think the issue should be debated at all.
"If the judges don't overturn Prop. 8, we will continue. I'm not going to go away."

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