I posted this in the No on Prop 8 Facebook group discussions before the election, and one of my fellow Facebookers asked if she could share this with her friends. I thought I would share it here for anyone who still doesn't understand how Prop 8 undermines the fundamental principles of our government and affects us all as Americans:
In "In Re Marriage Cases," which is the CA Supreme Court decision that declared Prop 22 unconstitutional, the justices, in 160 pages of legal precedence, stated that marriage is a "civil right." I'm not going to go into what a "civil right" is because hopefully, we learned this in school. The important thing we should have learned is that everyone is entitled to civil rights under the Equal Protection Clause. Lots of "Yes on 8" people keep saying they were "activist judges." But the truth is that CA has a right leaning supreme court (6 of 7 were appointed by Republican governors). They come from Catholic and Protestant backgrounds. However, their job is one of the most important in our government and that is to interpret the constitution. They don't add or change laws. And they have to do this without bias, which means that justices have the hardest job because they must put aside their personal and religious views.Prop 8 rescinded the fundamental right to marry the person of one's choice. A fundamental right is a constitutional right that is either explicit or implied, and the right to marry is a fundamental right along with other familiar rights, like the right to procreate, the right to vote, and the right to raise children free of governmental interference. I've read a lot of bloggers arguing about how marriage is a religious sacrament. Well, yes, it may be a religious sacrament in your religion, and that's great, but a civil marriage that provides the legal status and protections of marriage is available to everyone, including non-religious people in the U.S. The state allows clergy to solemnize marriages more as a courtesy. In many other countries, marriages can only be solemnized by the state, and the religious ceremony (or non-religious celebration) is completely separate. I think that because of how our country handles marriages, many people feel that the word "marriage" belongs to their religion and is a religious rite and a sacrament. But a civil marriage has no relationship to religion or tradition at all and should be impartial to any one group's beliefs about religion or tradition.
The Supreme Court upheld the constitutional right of marriage to everyone, based on its definition in the constitution, which declares it as "a contract," not a "religious rite" or "tradition." They also based it on countless cases that declared that marriage is a civil right. This right is essential to "the pursuit of happiness" etc. etc. Of course, you can't say it's a right in other cases, and not in this one because that would violate constitutional law. So... constitutional law now upholds that the civil contract of marriage is available to everyone. This is where Prop 8 comes along. Prop 8 is an AMENDMENT to the constitution that will change the the CIVIL definition of marriage, which changes it for ALL of US. The current definition allows you to uphold your beliefs about marriage in your church, and my beliefs in mine. Prop 8 doesn't just "reinforce" the definition of traditional marriage by making it legal. Constitutional amendment should never be taken lightly. This one literally takes the civil right of marriage away from one group of people, many of whom are already married. LITERALLY.
Our Founding Fathers drafted a constitution that would protect civil rights for all, and they even knew that their own ideas about what is just might be wrong, which is why we have checks and balances. It is not a direct democracy, where the majority can oppress a minority. This is where (hopefully) you can believe that we all are trying to uphold everything that this country was built on. You are free to practice whatever religion you want, and so is everyone else. If we all do not fight for this, no matter if we feel gays are sinful or not, WE ALL LOSE. I don't think in all of the history of our government have we ever upheld a constitutional right, and then rescinded it. EVER. The precedent this sets goes against *everything* our country stands for.
The lawsuits that have been submitted against Prop 8 currently include ones from: the ACLU, Lambda Legal, and National Center for Lesbian Rights, who are representing couples who can no longer marry; the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Asian Pacific American Legal Center, California State Conference of the NAACP, Equal Justice Society, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which contend that a higher standard than a simple majority must be required to strip a minority of fundamental rights; the Counties of Los Angeles, Santa Clara, Alameda, San Mateo, Marin, San Francisco, and many cities, which assert that Prop 8 is a major revision and therefore invalid because it did not go through the proper procedures required of a revision; and the California Council of Churches and several faith organizations, which describe Prop 8 as an infringement upon the religious liberty of churches that recognize same-sex marriage and sets a legal precedent that undermines our government's ability to protect religious minorities. All of these argue that Prop 8 undermines the independent judiciary's ability to protect minorities by allowing the electorate to strip away rights from a group that were upheld by the courts. Some people are wondering, "Wait, didn't some ethnic groups and many religious groups represented by these legal groups vote for Prop 8 with overwhelming majorities?" These lawsuits aren't about protecting personal beliefs registered through a majority vote (the right to vote is what is protected, not the outcome!). These groups protect the rights of specific minority groups, and as many legal experts have pointed out, Prop 8 sets a legal precedent that allows for any group's rights to be stripped through misuse of California's Initiative Process. In other words, Prop 8 makes it difficult for these legal groups to protect the rights of the groups they champion, should their rights be threatened by similar measures in the future. I've seen some conspiracy theories about bribes given to the NAACP and other nonsense to justify many of their members' opposition to Prop 8, even though a majority of the Black community supposedly voted for Prop 8. Unbeknownst to these ignorant bloggers, the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement are the ones who championed marriage equality, long before Prop 8 came around.
A final word about constitutions... many people keep saying, "Well, now that Prop 8 is in the constitution, doesn't the Supreme Court have to uphold the constitution? Didn't the majority already decide? Haven't THE PEOPLE spoken?" Well, this is where a solid understanding of our government is really important. Constitutions are "by the People, for the People". When our Founding Fathers wrote "for the People" they meant "for ALL the People," not "for the majority." We are purposely NOT a "majority rules" nation. In fact, the Constitution of the United States was almost not ratified because many of the Founding Fathers protested its lack of guarantee of rights to protect minorites from "majority rule" tyranny. Hence, the Bill of Rights was born. As it stands, the California Constitution is not "for the People." It is "for the majority" (and a slim majority at that). As I've mentioned in other posts and as others have noted, we are not some ancient democracy that eventually imploded on itself when 49% of the people got sick and tired of 51% of the people voting their rights away. For the sake of our great state, let's hope Prop 8 gets overturned soon.
"All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression."
- Thomas Jefferson
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