Reporting from San Francisco and Los Angeles -- After losing at the polls, gay rights supporters filed three lawsuits Wednesday asking the California Supreme Court to overturn Proposition 8, an effort the measure's supporters called an attempt to subvert the will of voters.They've just exposed what their churches really stand for, and it isn't tolerance, understanding and the core belief that God is Love.
"If they want to legalize gay marriage, what they should do is bring an initiative themselves and ask the people to approve it," said Frank Schubert, co-chairman of the Proposition 8 campaign. "But they don't. They go behind the people's back to the courts and try and force an agenda on the rest of society."
Lawyers for same-sex couples argued that the anti-gay-marriage measure was an illegal constitutional revision -- not a more limited amendment, as backers maintained -- because it fundamentally altered the guarantee of equal protection. A constitutional revision, unlike an amendment, must be approved by the Legislature before going to voters.
The state high court has twice before struck down ballot measures as illegal constitutional revisions, but those initiatives involved "a broader scope of changes," said former California Supreme Court Justice Joseph Grodin, who publicly opposed Proposition 8 and was part of an earlier legal challenge to it. The court has suggested that a revision may be distinguished from an amendment by the breadth and the nature of the change, Grodin said.
The Catholic Knights of Columbus and the Mormon church have just proved they are supporters of hate and exclusion, that discrimination drives their churches. They wanted this proposition, an amendment that actually DENIES civil rights, written into the California Constitution.
Why?
Don't give me the lies and stupid shit that schools and children are under attack, that churches will be sued. Marriage between gays has been law since May. Have these things happened? No.
So why?
Because these churches need a scapegoat to beat to death in the village square to unite their faithful.
That is it, plain and simple.
And how utterly cynical and ugly.
4 comments:
Ugh, I was so disappointed to see this happen. I was so hoping that this would fail in California and that gay marriage would stand protected.
I'm a lefty in a mostly red state (Missouri) and look to states like California to lead the way on issues like this. I am crushed and outraged by this outcome. There are a ton of issues that I disagree with righties on, yet can logically understand their position; this, however, makes absolutely not sense to me. The opposition to letting two people in love marry each other and be afforded the protections and rights that come along is based purely in hate, ignorance and fear -- none of which are acceptable reasons.
The only comfort I can take is that I KNOW that we are on the "right side of history" on this one, and, in my lifetime, there will be equal marriage rights/protections for all consenting adults. A gay civil rights movement will come, I am confident.
The only comfort I can take is that I KNOW that we are on the "right side of history" on this one, and, in my lifetime, there will be equal marriage rights/protections for all consenting adults. A gay civil rights movement will come, I am confident.
You are right, Carrie. My daughter is in high school. She and her friends have straight, openly gay, and bi friends. They are completely flummoxed by this proposition. She cannot understand why gay marriage is so threatening to these churches that they would force their fears and beliefs into law.
Just as articles have shown the soldiers in the military know who is gay, who is not and don't care, so the younger generation is more accepting and tolerant of gays than these churches would like to believe.
We've been through eight (and more) years of hate. I hope people are beginning to dislike the taste of it...
Well said, Ellroon (as always).
Civil rights are almost always fought in the courts, not at the ballot box. I don't care how much the Mormons and their toadies and minions snivel about going behind the backs of the people.
You do not codify into law bigotry.
Regards,
Tengrain
You do not codify into law bigotry.
It's astonishing that from their viewpoint, they are acting with love and righteousness. They have no idea how this actually translates to those outside their church bubble.
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