Just over a year ago, the California Supreme Court ruled that the state’s ban on same sex marriages violated the California Constitution. Opponents of that decision went right to work, and got a constitutional amendment on the ballot for the 2008 general election. When the amendment passed with 52% of the vote, proponents of same sex marriage filed suit, seeking to overturn propostion 8. Yesterday, the court ruled that the amendment was lawfully passed, and that the ban on same sex marriages would stay intact.
The big difference between a year ago and now is this: a year ago, the court decided that the statutory ban violated the constitution. Unfortunately, since then, the constitution has been explicitly changed to deny marriage rights to same sex couples. The voters of California decided that they wanted to remove a right from the constitution that the authority of that document said was in there.
The biggest problem that I had about proposition 8 was the campaign for it. The Mormon and Catholic churches poured tons of money into it. Private citizens within these religions of course have a right to speak for the amendment, but the institutions themselves should not be allowed the same First Amendment rights. We exempt religious organizations from paying taxes as part of the separation of church and state. If they are going to be advocating for this, or any specific candidate or ballot measure, they should pay their taxes like the rest of us.
Since then, Iowa, Connecticut, Maine and Vermont have all legalized same sex marriage. The smart money says New York and New Jersey won’t be too far behind. Same sex marriage opponents may have won the battle, but they’re losing the war. As the next generation of Americans come into power, same sex marriage will not be seen as the taboo that it has been in recent decades. When people see that the sky isn’t falling in Iowa or Massachusetts, we won’t even be having this debate.
I heard the sky was falling in Iowa…
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