Hello Rayman

Even though the majority voted to discriminate this isssue based on their religious and gender beliefs it is still against our Nation's Constitution and from what little I understand of the law I do not think this can be upheld in any Court of law in any State.....

yes, folks are UNCOMFORTABLE with male, male, marriages and female, female, marriages but being uncomfortble with something and trying to deny it the right to exist in the eyes of the law, is, well, ultimately....an impossibilty...it cannot hold water.....Prop 8 is all bark but in legal terms it has absolutely no bite.....and, this, one, can take to the bank and it will pay interest, imo..

Interracial marriage is an excellent example of this fight....

Prop 8 is like watching toddlers tantrum because you have told them that they cannot stay at DisneyWorld, that, yes, it is time to go home.

ruth

"Through the Glass Darkly" by JeffLieber at Daily Kos:

"I'm not necessarily recommending this, but if the constituents in the *Republican* party in California were interested in overturning Proposition 8 (which outlawed Gay marriage) they would make the battle entirely a referendum on the main sponsors of the amendment, the Mormon Church of Latter Day Saints.

They would sponsor an alternative amendment entitled something like the "California Constitution and Self-Determination Act" and run ads that talked about an "outside religious group from Utah, with radical views such as polygamy, invested millions of dollars to change California's constitution in their image."

They would then go out of their way to highlight every "scary" and "out of the mainstream" aspect of the Mormon religion... the "special underwear"... "the golden tablets"... "the anti-traditional-religion bent, which contradicts the bible" and suggest this "cult" had come into "our state" in the hopes of making it more hospitable for them.

The *Republicans* would then try to conjure an image of mass migration of outsiders and ask, with ominous music, "are we really ready for California to become home to religious fanatics who don't share our values?"

Given the way Proposition 8 was passed, with images of downtrodden children being subjected to the "gay agenda" (and the tacit suggestion that rejecting Proposition 8 would force first-graders to watch gay-porn in class), turn-about might be fair play.

Now, the significant downside of this methodology is that it completely sidesteps the VERY REAL ISSUE that civil-unions are nothing more than the separate-but-equal, "colored water fountains" of marriage and at some point... and I think its now... we have to have a big bloody fight, mirroring the marches on Selma that establish, once and for all, that gay-rights are nothing more radical than CIVIL RIGHTS.

The significant UPSIDE to running a *Republican* campaign focused on the "Mormons" instead of "marriage"... it very well might work, pitting the very constituents that were convinced to cross over to support proposition 8 against its creators.

And at this point, I MIGHT settle for "work" if the alternative is California's version of anti-miscegenation laws for gay men and women."

Last week, six same-sex couples filed a petition with the CA Supreme Court to block the enforcement of Prop 8, citing the CA constitution's requirement that the fundamental rights of minority groups can only be eliminated if 2/3rds of the legislature votes to submit the change to the People or to a constitutional convention. Yesterday, more than 40 state legislators filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of this petition. Via press release:

"The citizens of California rely on the Legislature and the courts to safeguard against unlawful discrimination by temporary, and often short-lived, majorities," said the legislators. "Our state's few deviations from this duty have proven, with the perspective of historical distance, to be the most abhorrent chapters in our State's history... The Legislative Amici urge this Court to prevent the momentary passions of a bare majority from compromising the enduring constitutional promise of equal protection under the law. Proposition 8's radical change to our constitutional protections cannot be considered a mere 'amendment.' The California Constitution -- 'the ultimate expression of the People's will' -- requires the involvement of the Legislature in a constitutional revision of this magnitude."

Arnold Schwarzenegger hopes Prop 8 will be overturned and urges opponents never to give up:

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today expressed hope that the California Supreme Court would overturn Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage. He also predicted that the 18,000 gay and lesbian couples who have already married would not be affected by the initiative.
"It's unfortunate, obviously, but it's not the end," Schwarzenegger said in an interview on CNN this morning. "I think that we will again maybe undo that, if the court is willing to do that, and then move forward from there and again lead in that area."...

Today, Schwarzenegger urged backers of gay marriage to follow the lesson he learned as a bodybuilder trying to lift weights that were too heavy for him at first. "I learned that you should never ever give up.... They should never give up. They should be on it and on it until they get it done."

http://www.calitics.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7478

and as Irvine pointed out in another thread:

"The LA County Board of Supervisors will meet Wednesday to determine whether they will join the effort to block Prop 8.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_10928973?source=rss

They'll need three votes on the 5-member board. So far L.A. County Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Gloria Molina are for it and Michael Antonovich is against. The other two votes are unclear."