Regarding the future and opposition to same-sex marriage in California
Perhaps I’m naïve. Or maybe, through simple disgust and shock, I’m in denial.
The thought of Xtian wingnuts in California banding together to amend the state Constitution and thus override their Supreme Court’s ruling on gay marriage is about as appalling a notion as I ever want to consider.
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Is it just me, or is the “let’s put it up to a vote” thing in California tantamount to mob rule?
So, speaking as one of the gays in California, some insight:
First, this state, I’ve found, likes to put everything to the vote. All the time. We have bunches of propositions and sometimes amendments up on the ballot every election, and there’s sometimes more than one voting day per year. (We just had one yesterday, in fact.) It’s good in that the chance for direct participation increases, but sometimes sucks because the majority isn’t always right or even aware of the ramifications of what they’re voting on. (A friend of mine told me shortly after my arrival in California that the best way to vote on state/city props, if you didn’t know enough to warrant an opinion, would be to vote “no” because a) better not introduce legalities you don’t understand, and b) if the people behind the prop wanted it that badly, they’d bring it back later. Not sure if that’s the best advice, but it’s sometimes useful.)
Secondly, in regards to voting vs. protecting minorities, I understand that there are some fundamentalist Christians who feel that they’re a minority group in need of protection from mob rule, which is how we get into these points where they try to influence the legal system.
I’m actually pretty worried about the introduction of this state constitutional amendment to the ballot. The State Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriages is overturning a law that was voted on and passed only eight years ago. That’s very recent as these things go. That law passed back then, this amendment could pass too. But perhaps fortunately, we’re going to be voting on it as the same day as the Presidential election, which will hopefully bring out everyone who is so sick of the Bush regime that they can’t stomach another Republican president so soon, and hopefully they’ll push back on the amendment since they’re out there anyway.
Then again, I wouldn’t bank on that either, because in yesterday’s election, which included state-wide propositions regarding rent control (as in, we could have lost it altogether), only 27.82% of registered voters in San Francisco county turned out to vote at the polls or by mail, despite how we all complain about rent being ridiculous as it is… and the majority of SF residents are renters. If we can’t band together to protect a majority, I don’t exactly have faith in us to band together to protect a minority, either.
