Vote NO on Prop 8 (or "What about my marriage needs 'protecting'?")
I hear the ads on the radio, and see the signs placed in yards throughout the county. The radio ad contends that "four activist judges ignored the voices of four million people" when they declared Prop 22 unconstitutional last May, thereby paving the way for homosexuals to marry. The ads promote Prop 8 as a way to "protect marriage".
First, let me come out and say that I am a heterosexual male. In mid December I will be celebrating ten years of marriage to my wife. A few weeks later, our daughter will be turning six. We make a middle income. We're about as Anglo as you can get. We are the target audience for the supporters of Prop 8.
We are voting NO on Prop 8.
There are three reasons for our decision, and I hope that those reading this will take these reasons seriously and with careful consideration.
1). I have known a gay couple all of my life. They've been friends of my family since before I was born, in fact. I know of another couple through a common hobby (SCA) that got married this past summer. Then there are the high profile marriages of Ellen DeGeneres and George Takei, to name a few. The fact that they are gay has no bearing on my relationships with those gay people that I know. They are merely people the same as myself and my wife, and entitled to the same happiness that we, and everyone else, shares.
2). Given that, I have to wonder what it is that those who want to "protect marriage" want to protect it from. "Protect marriage" from what? Can anyone give me a clear answer to that question? Because the one mantra that exists between me and my wife is that nothing from the outside can affect, much less destroy, our marriage. Our marriage will survive or fail due to our own successes or failures, NOT because some gay couple somewhere decided that they wanted to get married too. Good for them. More power to them. I wish them well. If that is their lifestyle, then they are welcome to it. It has NO effect on my lifestyle or my marriage. My marriage is not lessened or cheapened because of what someone else did. So, please ask yourself just what it is about your own marriage that needs to be "protected" because someone else decided to get married too.
3). I continually hear these terms, "activist judges" and "legislating from the bench", thrown about whenever a judge, or panel of judges, rules against laws and policies that have no right to be written and passed in the first place. There is a reason why certain laws are struck down; they violate the constitution (either state or federal or both). That is the JOB of the judiciary, beyond just presiding over criminal trials. Bad laws are always written, and sometimes passed. It is the job of the citizenry to challenge such laws, and the job of the judiciary to weigh those laws against the constitution. If the law violates the constitution, it is rendered null and void. The fact that four million people voted for Prop 22, which banned same sex marriage, is irrelevant. Just because four million people voted for it does not mean that it conforms to the state's constitution. If it violates the constitution, it is the judges' job to strike it down. What's sad is not that four judges out of seven struck down the law, but that the other three didn't join them. Prop 22 was a bad law, should never have been written, and should never have been voted into law. Prop 8 is equally bad; and yet just a bit worse. Its proponents want to amend the constitution so that the state Supreme Court can't strike it down again. It still would violate the US Constitution, though, and is subject to being struck down at the federal level.
Simply put, Prop 8 is unnecessary. It "protects" nothing. What Prop 8 would do is write discrimination into the state's constitution; a constitution written to protect those in the minority, and ensure basic rights for all of the states' citizens. Don't let the Prop 8 proponents fool you. Don't let them scare you. Your marriage, my marriage, anybody's marriage, is only as strong as the couple that makes up that marriage. If you and your spouse are strong and secure in your own marriage, then you don't need a government law to "protect" it from the marriage of others.
Vote NO on Prop 8!
Fred Strange
First, let me come out and say that I am a heterosexual male. In mid December I will be celebrating ten years of marriage to my wife. A few weeks later, our daughter will be turning six. We make a middle income. We're about as Anglo as you can get. We are the target audience for the supporters of Prop 8.
We are voting NO on Prop 8.
There are three reasons for our decision, and I hope that those reading this will take these reasons seriously and with careful consideration.
1). I have known a gay couple all of my life. They've been friends of my family since before I was born, in fact. I know of another couple through a common hobby (SCA) that got married this past summer. Then there are the high profile marriages of Ellen DeGeneres and George Takei, to name a few. The fact that they are gay has no bearing on my relationships with those gay people that I know. They are merely people the same as myself and my wife, and entitled to the same happiness that we, and everyone else, shares.
2). Given that, I have to wonder what it is that those who want to "protect marriage" want to protect it from. "Protect marriage" from what? Can anyone give me a clear answer to that question? Because the one mantra that exists between me and my wife is that nothing from the outside can affect, much less destroy, our marriage. Our marriage will survive or fail due to our own successes or failures, NOT because some gay couple somewhere decided that they wanted to get married too. Good for them. More power to them. I wish them well. If that is their lifestyle, then they are welcome to it. It has NO effect on my lifestyle or my marriage. My marriage is not lessened or cheapened because of what someone else did. So, please ask yourself just what it is about your own marriage that needs to be "protected" because someone else decided to get married too.
3). I continually hear these terms, "activist judges" and "legislating from the bench", thrown about whenever a judge, or panel of judges, rules against laws and policies that have no right to be written and passed in the first place. There is a reason why certain laws are struck down; they violate the constitution (either state or federal or both). That is the JOB of the judiciary, beyond just presiding over criminal trials. Bad laws are always written, and sometimes passed. It is the job of the citizenry to challenge such laws, and the job of the judiciary to weigh those laws against the constitution. If the law violates the constitution, it is rendered null and void. The fact that four million people voted for Prop 22, which banned same sex marriage, is irrelevant. Just because four million people voted for it does not mean that it conforms to the state's constitution. If it violates the constitution, it is the judges' job to strike it down. What's sad is not that four judges out of seven struck down the law, but that the other three didn't join them. Prop 22 was a bad law, should never have been written, and should never have been voted into law. Prop 8 is equally bad; and yet just a bit worse. Its proponents want to amend the constitution so that the state Supreme Court can't strike it down again. It still would violate the US Constitution, though, and is subject to being struck down at the federal level.
Simply put, Prop 8 is unnecessary. It "protects" nothing. What Prop 8 would do is write discrimination into the state's constitution; a constitution written to protect those in the minority, and ensure basic rights for all of the states' citizens. Don't let the Prop 8 proponents fool you. Don't let them scare you. Your marriage, my marriage, anybody's marriage, is only as strong as the couple that makes up that marriage. If you and your spouse are strong and secure in your own marriage, then you don't need a government law to "protect" it from the marriage of others.
Vote NO on Prop 8!
Fred Strange