Judge Rules for Same-Sex Marriage

(Seattle, Washington) In a case filed by 16 plaintiffs, King County Superior Court Judge William Downing yesterday ruled that same-sex couples can marry under Washington state law. There are many aspects of this case that are worthy of comment, but I'll just address one for now.

Regarding the decision, Judge Downing stated that the sixteen homosexuals are the kind of people:

"any of us should be proud to call a friend or neighbor or to sit with at small desks on back-to-school night."

And, he wrote:

"(Their) lives reflect hard work, professional achievement, religious faith and the willingness to stand up for their beliefs. They are law-abiding, taxpaying model citizens. They include exemplary parents, adoptive parents, foster parents and grandparents.

"They know what it means to make a commitment and to honor it."

My comment is that, based upon Judge Downing's words, it appears his mind was made up and substantially fortified sometime while adjudicating the case or, as I suspect, Judge Downing was prepared to rule on the issue whether or not a complaint was filed.

I'm confident that somewhere in his opinion, he wrote about the merits of the legal case. However, I'm also fairly convinced that the legal aspects of the case were secondary in importance to his furthering and imposing his political beliefs.