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On Civil Disobedience
Nov. 7th, 2008 02:35 pmGoing back to Thoreau, Gandhi, and MLK, Jr. here, but the purpose of civil disobedience is not to disobey some law chosen to create the greatest disturbance, but rather to intentionally break the unjust law that you are attacking and thus, demonstrate its inherent unjustness. Hence, sit-ins at lunch counters, marches to the sea to gather salt, and non-payment of war taxes. Blocking traffic doesn't qualify, unless you're trying to get the 'No Right Turn on Red' sign taken down at your local corner.
My suggestion for civil disobedience on Prop. 8 would be to find a group of ministers who will hold ceremonies and then file the papers with the state, thereby breaking the law in an appropriate way. Perhaps we can even find some sympathetic county clerks who would be willing to issue licenses or some other way to generate the documents that the law says are verboten. Hell, drop the $10, get yourself a Universal Life Church or whatever minister status you can and start marrying people who want to participate. Let's have a statewide 'marry-in'. The other option is for gay couples to stage sit-ins at county clerk's offices, refusing to leave until they are issued marriage licenses. Everybody participating has to be willing to be arrested (without resistance because, after all, the only law you want to break is the unjust one) and publicize those arrests as widely and loudly as possible.
Unjustly removing rights from someone else, makes us all less free.
My suggestion for civil disobedience on Prop. 8 would be to find a group of ministers who will hold ceremonies and then file the papers with the state, thereby breaking the law in an appropriate way. Perhaps we can even find some sympathetic county clerks who would be willing to issue licenses or some other way to generate the documents that the law says are verboten. Hell, drop the $10, get yourself a Universal Life Church or whatever minister status you can and start marrying people who want to participate. Let's have a statewide 'marry-in'. The other option is for gay couples to stage sit-ins at county clerk's offices, refusing to leave until they are issued marriage licenses. Everybody participating has to be willing to be arrested (without resistance because, after all, the only law you want to break is the unjust one) and publicize those arrests as widely and loudly as possible.
Unjustly removing rights from someone else, makes us all less free.