LA TIMES Opposes Proposition 8!

On Friday August 8, the Los Angeles Times editorialized against Proposition 8, the proposed initiative constitutional amendment on the November 4 ballt which, if passed by a simple majoriity of voters, would eliminate the right to marry for same-sex couples. In a well-written piece, the Times gets to the key point right away:

It's the same sentence as in 2000: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." Yet the issue that will be put before voters Nov. 4 is radically different. This time, the wording would be used to rescind an existing constitutional right to marry. We fervently hope that voters, whatever their personal or religious convictions, will shudder at such a step and vote no on Proposition 8.

The state of same-sex marriage shifted in May, when the California Supreme Court overturned Proposition 22, the ban on gay marriage that voters approved eight years ago, and ruled that marriage was a fundamental right under the state Constitution. As such, it could not be denied to a protected group -- in this case, gay and lesbian couples.

What voters must consider about Proposition 8 is that, unlike Proposition 22, this is no longer about refining existing California law. In the wake of the court's ruling, the only way to deny marriage to gay and lesbian couples is by revising constitutional rights themselves. Proposition 8 seeks to embed wording in the Constitution that would eliminate the fundamental right to same-sex marriage.

It's a rare and drastic step, invoking the constitutional-amendment process to strip people of rights. Yet in California, it can be done with a simple majority vote. All the more reason for voters to weigh carefully what would be wrought by this measure.

In other Proposition 8 news, the revised ballot description provided by Attorney General Jerry Brown will be the one that 15-16 million California voters see in the Official Ballot Guide this Fall, thanks to a ruling by Sacramento County judge Thomas Frawley in Sacramento on Friday. The voting guide goes to press today, Monday August 11.