For a brief moment at the end of last week, it seemed that Florida would claim a victory in the fight for gay rights. On Thursday, Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Luis Garcia overturned Florida’s 2008 ban on gay marriage and ordered that the two men who appealed for a marriage license, along with all other gay couples, be allowed to wed.
“The court is aware that the majority of voters oppose same-sex marriage, but it is our country’s proud history to protect the rights of the individual, the rights of the unpopular and rights of the powerless, even at the cost of offending the majority,” Garcia wrote in his opinion, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
However, the elation of this victory was cut short. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi quickly appealed Garcia’s ruling, and in doing so, triggered an automatic stay in the case. Garcia was asked yesterday to lift the stay, but he denied the request. Bondi’s official statement regarding the case concluded that the Supreme Court issued orders staying all lower-court gay-marriage decisions.
“They have all acted to maintain the status quo while the issues presented are resolved,” her statement reads. “This court should likewise maintain the status quo and leave the automatic stay in place until further appellate proceedings are concluded.”
We can fling accusations at Pam Bondi all we want — that she hates gay people, that she’s on the wrong side of history, etc. But at the end of the day, whether you agree with her or not, she’s doing her job: In 2008, Florida voters approved a same-sex marriage ban that, well, bans gay marriage. Though this editorial board adamantly disagrees with the ban, it would appear that Bondi is simply defending what’s written in the state constitution.
The ban has been appealed since its implementation. Lawsuits challenging the ban are currently pending in Miami-Dade County and Tallahassee as the cases move toward the Supreme Court, and Bondi’s statements this week have proved that no progress will be made for gay couples until a higher court overturns the ban.
In the meantime, what can you, the individual, do? Florida’s political climate seems ripe for change when it comes to gay marriage: According to the Miami Herald, 54 percent of Floridians now support the freedom to marry. Equality Florida is working tirelessly to get citizens educated on what marriage means to gay couples with its Get Engaged campaign.
We’re hoping the Supreme Court decides to allow the gay couples who’ve filed suits in Florida to marry, but we also recognize that it’s up to voters to make a difference in November’s election: Sign petitions to add a gay marriage amendment to the November ballot. Vote for said amendment.
It’s that simple.
[A version of this editorial ran on page 6 on 7/22/2014 under the headline "Monroe gay marriage denial shows importance of the vote"]
