Poll sees marriage ban trailing, and other Prop. 8 bits and pieces
Joe Mathews' Blockbuster Democracy blog has this link to a Field Poll out this morning showing that Californians are leaning against Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment initiative on the Nov. 4 ballot to restrict marriage to a union between a man and a woman.
If it passes, what would be the effect of the state Supreme Court's May 15 ruling legalizing marriage for same-sex couples? The court called marriage a fundamental right. Can voters revoke a fundamental right by initiative?
Opponents of Proposition 8 said no, and asked the court to remove the measure from the ballot. On Wednesday, though, the justices declined, without comment.
Los Angeles Superior Court research attorney Kevin Norte has been warning that the court's failure to act may result in repeated ballot measures to restrict marriage. Even if Proposition 8 fails, he argues, lack of court action to bar similar ballot measures will result in one initiative after another, forever, much like the parental consent/notification measures that Californians have seen three times in the last three years. The latest version, Proposition 4 (also known as Sara's Law), is on the Nov. 4 ballot.
Norte calls the potential phenomenon the "Gay Marriage Industrial Complex." Read his quote in the Metropolitan News-Enterprise story.
Meanwhile, there's an online petition to recall Chief Justice Ron George for the "travesty" in ruling and writing the opinion in the In re Marriage Cases decision, but it's not an official petition qualified by the secretary of state.
The reasoning in George's opinion is disingenuous. He cites to Perez - the case where a black and white couple wanted to marry - where the Court held the right to marry is a fundamental right, all the while IGNORING the obvious underlying premise that the Court was referring to a black MAN who wanted to marry a white WOMAN. The Perez case stands for the proposition that the right to marry a person of the opposite sex, no matter what their color is a fundamental right, NOT that there is a fundamental right to marry someone of the same sex. The appellate court had it right. The plaintiffs here wanted to create constitutional protection for "same-sex marriage." (Sorry, CJ, it's NOT just a matter of "semantics."). The result is a bastardization of marriage that can ONLY be rectified by amending the Constitution which George distorted to fit the outcome he obviously sought.
Posted by: Michael, Esq. | July 18, 2008 at 02:33 PM
Upholding the right, that can never be taken away, for homosexual couples to marry would insure that they have the same rights of property, parenting, etc., as the rest of America. How can anyone oppose the proposal that everyone has unalienable rights to be a fully participating partner with another consenting adult?
Posted by: tanaS | July 18, 2008 at 01:49 PM
Did anyone read the details of this poll? Only 672 Californians participated. Only 672 out of the 27 million adults living in the State ... give me a break! Why is the media using this misleading propaganda as front line news? The mind games will not work! Homosexuality is a sin and the majority of Californians agree. Enough of this homosexual agenda lies ... let us all get back to common sense.
What God says about Homosexuality:
"Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin. (Leviticus 18:22 NLT)
"That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved." (Romans 1:26-27 NLT)
"And don't forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God's judgment." (Jude 1:7 NLT)
Posted by: Lou | July 18, 2008 at 01:43 PM
Marriage is a law of nature. Why not change the Earth's rotation. From evolution or religious belief, it has always been a male and female concept. It has brought us to where we are today. It is immutable like the moon and stars. To have mere mortal men try to change Creation and Nature for a few aberrants is unthinkable. This is beyond State, Federal and international laws, It is the only one of it's kind known to exist in the Universe, as if by a Creator.
Posted by: daniwitz13 | July 18, 2008 at 01:08 PM
Sadly, Obama was right.....This is no longer a christian nation. God help the remainders
Posted by: TB | July 18, 2008 at 12:45 PM
This proposition will pass just like the others have in the past banning GAY MARRIAGE. Let the will of the people be heard and upheld!!!! This is not about hate.. this is about what the people who live in CA want!
Posted by: Amazing Grace | July 18, 2008 at 11:16 AM