California Bans Gay Marriage

This is a sad day for me. California has chosen to institutionalize discrimination in the state Constitution. As a native of the state, I had expected more from my fellow Californians. Although we are often a leader in progressive thought and policies, there is a mean and selfish streak that occasionally emerges, and apparently this is one of those times. The last time I remember feeling this way was in 1994 when Proposition 187, the anti-immigration measure, passed. Fortunately, that was later overturned in the courts.

Unfortunately, that won't happen this time around because Proposition 8 amended the state Constitution. What many voters don't seem to understand is that the Constitution defines the basic rights of all citizens. It is not a document that should be amended without a great deal of deliberation, and this election has clearly shown why. A fundamental right of all citizens as confirmed by state Supreme Court has now been eliminated for members of a single minority group. Where the law previously treated all loving couples equally, it now discriminates against some. To my way of thinking, it is as if we had passed a Constitutional amendment disallowing black citizens from riding in the front of public buses or drinking from public water fountains.

Proponents of this measure argued that we should "save traditional marriage". What are they talking about? Traditional marriages were under no threat whatsoever. There was nothing in the Supreme Court ruling that curtailed the ability of opposite-sex couples to marry, nor were existing married couples at risk of losing any of the rights or privileges they enjoyed under the law. Perhaps voters were simply ignorant, and didn't understand that civil marriage and religious marriage are two different things. Allowing same-sex couples to marry under the law did not require any church or religious faction to perform or recognize such marriages. A religious marriage is between the couple and God, and the state has no say over that whatsoever. But rather than being satisfied with the marital bond they can form before God - something most churches won't condone for gay couples - California's voters have chosen to selfishly deny those couples the right to a legal bond as well. Shame on us.