This Just In : Calif. lawmakers back Prop. 8 challenge

[Ioo]

http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California/CA_Gay_Marriage_Legislature_386037C.shtml

THIS IS NOT THE FULL HOUSE YET, but the Assembly Judiciary Committee voted 7-3 in favor

The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO

A legislative committee on Tuesday endorsed legal efforts to overturn California's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, as gay rights activists worked the halls of the Capitol to try to get the full Legislature on record as opposing Proposition 8.

After hearing conflicting and often emotional testimony about who deserves the last say on the marriage question, the Assembly Judiciary Committee voted 7-3 in favor of a resolution stating that citizens lacked the authority to put the gay marriage ban directly to voters.

Supporters of the resolution, authored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, said that because the November measure stripped same-sex couples of a right they already enjoyed, it should have been up to the Legislature to decide whether to submit it to a popular vote. That is the process California has for making significant changes to the state Constitution.

"Some rights are so fundamental in our federal and state Constitution, we don't allow them to be changed by a simple majority vote," said Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, who voted in favor of the resolution, adding that interracial marriages would have remained illegal for decades if left to public opinion instead of the courts.

Proposition 8 passed with 52 percent of the vote in November. By amending the state Constitution, it overturned the California Supreme Court decision last year that legalized same-sex marriage.

[dickthegrouch]

1. Finally some real action

:sarcasm:

It's nice they were able to vote 2:1 against prop 8 now.
6 months ago was the right time for this to prevent the hateful thing from ever getting to a ballot.

[AB_Positive]

2. Day late... dollar short...

but at least they're trying and working on it. While I don't expect legislative mistakes coming in the future at least I know there's always a chance of correcting the problems with a more receptive government. *sigh*

One day brothers and sisters... one day we'll be just as free as everyone else.

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. And one day, I'll be dead

You will excuse me for not holding my breath.

[cascadiance]

4. IF we can overturn this, we need to change rules about ammending State Constitution...

Just about every other body requires a 2/3rds super majority before doing a constitutional ammendment. If there is a mechanism to update the state constitution by proposition, it should have the same rules and require a 2/3rds vote. A ruling by the court against prop 8 would reinforce the need for such rules to be in place to prevent future challenges to peoples' fundamental rights that could come through other props.

[Equality Tax Revolt]

5. EQUALITY TAX REVOLT

The saddest (sickest?) part of it all it that we posit a vote on family rights right next to votes on property taxes, school levies, and HOV lane issues.

We ALLOWED a vote on our family's legal worth.

We should have rioted in the streets the minute things like PROP 8 appeared, refusing to have our civil rights voted upon. But not enough of us suffer due to inequality; too many of us are VERY comfortable.

I'll take my fellow gays seriously when they start organizing sit-ins, tax protests, and start blocking traffic and using our very bodies to scream "ENOUGH!" to society and lawmakers.

Until then, we are largely a timid, pathetic bunch who plead and beg for rights as if we don't believe we actually deserve them in the first place. We feel we have to be "liked enough", and not appear "too demanding" or "too angry" so we can EARN the right to protect our families from suffering, distress, and harm in times of disease, divorce, and death.

We Don't Know Any Better.