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Loading ...Gay foes end battle over Calif. amendment wording
08.12.2008 11:24am EDT
(San Francisco, California) A group behind a proposed amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in California is abandoning its fight over the wording that will appear on the November ballot.
The Project Marriage Coalition said it made the decision after a state appeals court in Sacramento turned down an urgent appeal of a lower court ruling that upheld Attorney General Jerry Brown’s definition of the proposed constitutional amendment.In a one-paragraph decision an appeals court panel order cited previous appellate court rulings holding that an attorney general’s title and summary should be presumed to be accurate and should be upheld even “if reasonable minds differ.”
Further legal action would be moot even if the group won since the case could not be heard in time for any change to ballots prior to the election.
The ballot question originally had been described as a measure to limit marriage between a man and a woman. Last month Brown changed the description to say the proposed amendment would eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry and that it could result in California losing tens of millions of dollars in taxes.
The Project Marriage Coalition, the umbrella group that collected enough names to have the question placed on the ballot, went to court, accusing Brown of twisting the wording to influence the vote.
At a hearing last week, attorneys for Brown’s office said the original definition was written before the California Supreme Court in May struck down the state ban on same-sex marriage. Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples began lining up for marriage licenses the following month when the ruling took effect.
Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley said that the title and summary accurately summarized the proposition.
“There is nothing inherently argumentative or prejudicial about transitive verbs, and the Court is not willing to fashion a rule that would require the Attorney General to engage in useless nominalization,” Frawley wrote.
The coalition then sought the expedited appeals court hearing.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) opposes the amendment and has said he will campaign against it. Brown, a Democrat, also opposes the amendment.
Despite the legal wrangling over the initiative, a poll released in July suggests the measure is likely to be defeated.
Fifty-one percent of likely voters said they would vote against the proposed amendment while 42-percent would support it.
Don’t get complacent, folks. We could still lose on that initiative. People tend to be meaner, less compassionate, and more bigoted in the privacy of the ballot box compared to what they tell surveyers.
“Warning” is so correct. There is no room for complacency with this initiative. Just recently, the catholic church decided to use its considerable influence to support the initiative and called on catholics to provide money and volunteer efforts to see that it passes. There are many people who are hypocritical about their beliefs, saying one thing in public but voting for another in private. We will need as wide a margin of people supporting the defeat of this measure as possible and then doing all we can to make sure these people do go out and vote against it. With just 84 days left to go, we have a lot of work to do. If this initiative passes, there will be a severe ripple effect across this country and we’ll be fighting similiar battles for a long time to come. With Obama supporting a repeal of the “Defense of Marriage Act” and McCain wanting to keep it (and the obvious disparity between the candidates on vutrually every issue that effects the GLBT community – the general election vote should be a no-brainer. This ballot initiative is quite anothe matter though. Many ethnic communities in CA need to be reached out to, especially communities that are historically tied to anti-gay religious belief systems. You know these groups will do all they can to support this measure. We need to do all we can to see that it does not pass.
Very true, warning. I live in Washington State, but donated a little money online. I’m also contacting friends in CA, to encourage them to register to vote and donate money to defeat Prop 8 @ https://secure.ga3.org/03/ca_marriage_pac
Most important to get ALL your young friends 18 to 30 years old out to the ballot box to vote this measure down. They always say they’ll vote – get enthused – then worn down by the time the election rolls around. Now is not the time to go flat! Those working the POLLS – Bo one EXTRA LOOKOUT for Republicans who pick up your end-of-day VOTE BOXES. They had no problem throwing away whole boxes of votes in 2000 and 2004 and won’t think twice again. Vigilance and Unbroken Chain of Custody is important!!!
Even though in their ruling, the judges said any attempt at passing another ‘ammendment’ would be shot down when it filtered up to them again, we must do all we can to send a message to hatemongers that California is not their church-writ-large.
Hopefully, when they are defeated, these douche bags will pack their suitcases and return to Oklahoma.
Get Thee To A Ballot Box in November!!!
Wow, does this not sound anything like the old laws that said slaves could not marry officially???? hmmm… think about it