Assuming we defeat prop 8, what’s to keep it from showing up on every ballot from here to the end of time?
I can’t stand the idea of creating laws to define basic human rights, and I think it’s deplorable that people would use the legal system to impose their values system on other people who don’t share their viewpoint. But what sort of legal protection can we obtain from these impositions that cost us millions of dollars to defend?
The Declaration of Independence states that we claimed our independence from Britain to guarantee ourselves the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”. Since this Declaration was never codified into Law, it seems that it has become irrelevant in issues of Law. So it’s just a bunch of words scratched onto vellum that have no bearing on today’s reality?
“Assuming we defeat prop 8, what’s to keep it from showing up on every ballot from here to the end of time?
I can’t stand the idea of creating laws to define basic human rights, and I think it’s deplorable that people would use the legal system to impose their values system on other people who don’t share their viewpoint. But what sort of legal protection can we obtain from these impositions that cost us millions of dollars to defend?”
Assuming we do defeat Prop 8 (which is a big assumption… let’s get’re done, first, before going too deep into the discussion of what comes next) I don’t believe there’s anything to be done to keep it from coming up again and again. The good news, though, is that the longer same-sex marriage is legal in California, the more people realize that the other side’s horror stories haven’t come to pass (i.e., no churches have been forced to conduct same-sex marriages in violation of their religious beliefs), rendering the populace increasingly less likely to vote to eliminate same-sex marriage.
This is the other side’s last, best chance to rid California of same-sex marriage, before people get too used to it and realize that it hasn’t destroyed the fabric of society. And the other side knows that, too, which is why they’re working so hard to pass Prop 8.
Patrick Meighan
Culver City, CA