While America was upholding the result of decades of battle for civil rights by electing an African American to the presidency, tens of thousands of Californians were institutionalizing inequality, injustice and bigotry by passing Proposition 8, which sought to ban gay marriages in California. They wanted to include in the state constitution a provision that would deprive a group of people of their right to happiness and equal protection, and on the same breath would rather protect the rights of chickens, pigs and cows than those of their fellow human beings.
Californians, including blacks, who should have had a better understanding of fighting for minority rights, voted 52% to 47% to pass Proposition 8. Sixty-three (63) percent of Californians voted to mandate proper handling of farm animals through Proposition 2.
Proposition 8 sought to include in the state constitution the words: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”
In 2000, 62% of Californians also sought to include in the statute Proposition 22 using the same words. But in May, the state Supreme Court invalidated that statute on the grounds that it violated the state constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. This time, the gay marriage ban proponents decided to bypass the high court ruling by aiming for the words’ inclusion in the constitution.
It must be pointed out that the framers of the constitution, both of the state and of the United States of America, included the protection of individual rights precisely to ensure that such rights could not be taken away by legislative or administrative action, or even by the “tyranny of the majority.”
In that May ruling, the state Supreme Court correctly pointed out that the right to marry is one such constitutional right that must be provided equally to all people desiring to marry. Using a ballot measure, spending millions of dollars, and twisting the facts to deprive a group of people because of their sexual orientation is an assault on the sanctity of the constitution.
Proponents of Proposition 8 claimed that the union of same-sex couples undermines the “traditional” definition of marriage and thus poses a threat to the institution of marriage. In March 2005, Judge Richard Kramer noted that a violation of individual rights cannot be justified by its historic acceptance. It must also be pointed out that more than 18,000 same sex marriages have been legalized for years, but the “traditional” institution of marriage has not been put in peril, nor has society collapsed. Nor have these marriages degrade the marriage of traditional man-woman couples.
It must also be pointed out that legalization of gay marriages does not require those who have moral objection to them, to recognize or approve of these marriages. Neither does it require priests or church ministers to perform or bless such marriages. Neither does it require schools, as falsely claimed by Proposition 8 proponents, to teach that there is “no difference” between the traditional man-woman marriages and same-sex marriages.
Many proponents cite the Bible saying that the Holy Scriptures describes marriage as that between a man and a woman. These religious fundamentalists tend to forget that gays are God’s creation, too, so why treat them differently? Why deprive them of their right to be happy, to spend their life with the person they love, and experience the joys of having a family while enjoying the benefits and protection of the law? Can they honestly say that God feels differently about gays?
While we want to respect the result of the vote on Proposition 8, our nation being a democracy, we must not forget that in this nation’s history, injustice, inequality, discrimination and segregation prevailed for centuries because of the “tyranny of the majority.”
The constitutional guarantee of individual rights has been upheld time and again by the state Supreme Court. I am confident that the court will not allow the constitution to be amended to deprive a group of individuals their rights to suit other people’s personal and religious beliefs.
Many gay couples have been together for 20, 30, even 40 years, far longer than many traditional marriages. As correctly pointed out by the San Jose Mercury News in a recent editorial: “All couples who exchange vows know, in their own hearts, the depth and spiritual meaning of their union. That is for them, not others, to determine.”
I say, amen.