Nobody's life, liberty, or property is secure while the Legislature is in session

[derby378]

An old political quote, yes, but it has proven itself true far too many times since 2000.

So now it happens again in California with Proposition 8. I like the angle that the California Supreme Court is leaving the door open for an appeal to go all the way to SCOTUS, but I also agree that this may take too long.

A group of politically motivated Mormons managed to outflank supporters of gay marriage. For now. It doesn't mean that Californians can't bounce back and undo the law on their own with another special election.

All I can suggest at this time is that if you haven't done so yet and if you live in California, you get up, you learn the process of introducing a ballot issue, you gather enough signatures to force a vote, you do whatever it takes to make the state consider the issue once again at the ballot box.

Do it for your spouse. Or for your neighbors. Or for Harvey Milk. Or someone. By all means, make it personal, because it is personal.

[Taverner]

1. Will do

I'll do whatever I can

[sandnsea]

2. The Legislature could fix this in two seconds

Pass a law that California is an all civil union state. OR revise the Constitution. I hate that people don't know what the decision really said because they need to move pronto on the civil union legislation.

"Proposition 8 does not entirely repeal or abrogate the aspect of a same-sex couple’s state constitutional right of privacy and due process that was analyzed in the majority opinion in the Marriage Cases — that is, the constitutional right of same-sex couples to “choose one’s life partner and enter with that person into a committed, officially recognized, and protected family relationship that enjoys all of the constitutionally based incidents of marriage” (Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th at p. 829). Nor does Proposition 8 fundamentally alter the meaning and substance of state constitutional equal protection principles as articulated in that opinion. Instead, the measure carves out a narrow and limited exception to these state constitutional rights, reserving the official designation of the term “marriage” for the union of opposite-sex couples as a matter of state constitutional law, but leaving undisturbed all of the other extremely significant substantive aspects of a same-sex couple’s state constitutional right to establish an officially recognized and protected family relationship and the guarantee of equal protection of the laws.
By clarifying this essential point, we by no means diminish or minimize the significance that the official designation of “marriage” holds for both the proponents and opponents of Proposition 8; indeed, the importance of the marriage designation was a vital factor in the majority opinion’s ultimate holding in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757, 845-846, 855. Nonetheless, it is crucial that we accurately identify the actual effect of Proposition 8 on same-sex couples’ state constitutional rights, as those rights existed prior to adoption of the proposition, in order to be able to assess properly the constitutional challenges to the proposition advanced in the present proceeding. We emphasize only that among the various constitutional protections recognized in the Marriage Cases as 8 available to same-sex couples, it is only the designation of marriage — albeit significant — that has been removed by this initiative measure."

[derby378]

5. Revising the Constitution could be fun - but get a headcount in Sacramento

It takes a lot of momentum to get an amendment considered. Once the vote is cast, the momentum tends to dissipate if the amendment is defeated, like what happened to the Equal Rights Act on Capitol Hill.

[sandnsea]

6. So pass Civil Unions For Everybody

Like this decision just said. The legal rights are 100% guaranteed for everybody, so make it the same institution for everybody to get them. Civil Unions.

[T Wolf]

3. Electorally - it is as important to remove one of their vote(r)s by any means necessary as

it is to foster and produce one of ours.

It still would be a gain of one vote.

[Odin2005]

4. California is ruled by the mob and the special interests that propaganize them.

"The People will vote away their rights" --Ben Franklin