Gay politics

Openly gay chief US district judge Vaughn Walker's decision to overturn the voter-approved Proposition 8, that defines marriage as between one man and one woman in California, slices at the jugular of true democracy.

His 138-page ruling is an exercise in rationalising without thinking rationally. He bases his conclusion primarily on his ability to divine the "discriminatory intent" of California voters when casting their votes for Prop 8 - leaving out the possibility of his own pre-conceived bias as a gay man.

Walker's ruling illustrates that he does not understand the essential public purpose of marriage, which is to attach mothers and fathers to their children and to one another. He replaces this public purpose with private purposes of adults' feelings and desires. It's time to put a stop to judges who redefine our most fundamental social institutions and use liberal courts to obtain political goals they cannot obtain at the ballot box.

KEVIN TAIT

Morningside Road

Edinburgh