California's Proposition 8, which would write into the state constitution a provision saying, "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California," is trailing in the latest poll (PDF) 55% to 38%. In the months since the proposition made the ballot, it's support has never gone above 42% and opposition has ranged from 51% to 55%.
In July, Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll, told the San Diego Union-Tribune, "Starting out behind is usually an ominous sign for a proposition. Over 90 percent of propositions that start out behind get taken down." So far, defeat seems a safe bet for the ballot measure that would strip same-sex couples of their newly won right to marry in the state of California.
Social conservatives pushed to put Proposition 8 on the ballot after the California Supreme Court ruled in May that the state constitution's guarantees of rights invalidated an earlier ban on same-sex marriage. That court decision put California alongside Massachusetts as states that grant full legal recognition, equal to that for heterosexual relationships, to same-sex relationships.
Other states, including Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Oregon, Vermont and Washington offer differing levels of legal recognition to same-sex relationships without calling them "marriages."
You know, it wasn't that long ago that people could be arrested for homosexual conduct. I was in college when Bowers v. Hardwick was handed down, allowing Georgia's law against "consensual sodomy" to stand. I was four years old when the Stonewall Riots broke out in New York City's Greenwich Village in response to routine police raids on bars frequented by gay men.
Now we're debating whether gay and lesbian couples should be able to get married or should have to settle for some sort of "civil union."
That's progress.
Comments
What you don't hear are the silent minority of gay people who would rather not be outted into the open air and have family find out the truth about who they really are. Sometimes I'm not sure if openly gay people are that much safer once they reveal themselves. The truth does not necessarily set them free but much more of a bigger target practice. What you don't hear is how some gays try to out others in order to embarrass them or to use them sexually.
I have seen alot of criticism of Jerry Brown's rewording of Proposition 8 but the reality is the original measure as written was invalid without the change and in fact should have been thrown out and never put on the ballot.
The rules for California ballot measures require that petitions make clear when a measure will change existing California law. The petitions for Proposition 8 claimed that no California laws would be changed by its passage. This is completely false. Proposition 8 removes the legal right of same-sex couples to marry, a right they are guaranteed by the Constitution of the State of California. By even allowing this clearly illegally constructed measure on the ballot AG Brown was capitulating to conservative politicians.
If the measure is defeated it will be interesting to see how the anti-marriage crowd spins the fact that the majority of Californians are not bigots and respect the rights of the individual to make their own choices free from the influences of big governement, conservative or otherwise.
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