I received an email today from MoveOn.org asking me to sign a petition against a case that is being brought by Ken Starr that would petition "the [California] state Supreme Court to both validate Prop 8 and forcibly divorce 18,000 gay and lesbian couples who were married before the ballot measure passed." But I'm not sure if I want to sign the petition, so I'm leaving it to you, the readers of this blog, to help me decide. But first let me explain a couple of things.

Let me start by saying that I am not gay, but I have long been a supporter of gay rights, including the right to marry. I thought it was a travesty that Proposition 8 even made it to the ballot, to say nothing of the fact that the voters of California voted to disallow gay marriage. It was astounding to me that on the same day that we, as a people, elected the first black President of the United States, that civil rights could simultaneously take such a great step backwards this past November 4.

But as I think back on the history of civil rights in this country, I know that many of the strides that were made in one of two ways: by Executive Order or in the courts. First, we had President Lincoln, who issued the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves. Then we had President Truman, who integrated Armed Forces, which had the effect of affecting great social change. After these Executive Orders were issued, it was up to the lawyers to fight battles in the courts, as protestors and activists fought their battles in the court of public opinion. Two landmark cases are Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), which was the foundation for the integration of public schools, and Loving v. Virginia (1967), which ruled that laws banning interracial marriage are unconstitutional.

My point is, there is a blueprint for success in civil rights cases. I'm not suggesting, of course, that race issues are settled, but I am saying that in the last 55 years, more strides have been made toward equality of races that were made in the previous 500 years. And these strides were made because of a combination of courageous political leadership and direct confrontation in the American courtroom.

So I wonder: is this case is the opportunity for the civil rights activists of our generation to confront ignorance directly.

One the one hand, this case doesn't belong in the courts - it's discriminatory and, in my mind, violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution - any more than Proposition 8 should be the law of the state of California. But on the other hand, bring this case into court could be an opportunity not just to affirm these loving marriages, but also to use the state's Constitution to invalidate this heinous law. And if it doesn't get overturned in California's Supreme Court, it can then be escalated to the United States Supreme Court.

It's a difficult question.

So I ask you, dear readers, should I sign this petition, or should I hope that this case, indeed, makes it into California's Supreme Court?