Thursday, March 5, 2009

Prop 8 before CA Supreme Court today...

Today the anti-gay Proposition 8 debacle enters the California Supreme Court. We likely won't hear the decision for another 90 days. After that it will likely enter the petition for the US Supreme Court regardless of the result.

The thought did occur to me to do a new Prop 8 post and see how many people I could offend today in pointing out their joyous shredding of our State and Federal Constitutions and their egregious votes for discrimination, all in the name of Jesus mind you...

Well, I decided against it. I read a blog by Karin Wang from the APALC (Asian Pacific American Legal Center) on what the real threat of Prop 8 means for all Californians. Click here to read it and listed below were some of the highlights.

- "If upheld, Prop. 8 will set a dangerous precedent, where a simple majority vote is able to strip away the fundamental rights of a protected minority group."

- "The question before the California Supreme Court is whether a ballot measure can deprive one minority group of its fundamental rights. The answer must be no because any other answer puts all of our communities and our basic Constitutional principles at risk. In other words, if a simple majority can strip gays and lesbians of the fundamental right to marry, then there is nothing to prevent a simple majority from taking fundamental right away from other protected groups, whether its Asian Americans, African Americans, Latinos, women, or religious minorities."

- " Injustice exists; sometimes, it even results from the decision of a majority of the voters in an election. But all people, regardless of how we vote, depend on the courts to protect us against injustice. We should never allow the fundamental principles of our Constitution to be subject to a simple majority vote – majorities can turn on any group at any point and it is a basic principle of America’s democratic system that the courts, legislators and voters provide checks and balances against each other."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It also makes me nervous as one of the smallest minorities out there, Atheists/agnostics. Is it really such a stretch of logic for the religious majority to vote to deny me, one whom the bible lists as a heathen, the right to marry?

Think about it, I am making no pact with God, I simply want the civil and legal union of marriage, not the spiritual part. Should I not too be denied this right, because God probably doesn't condone my lifestyle?

Just because religious people are the majority, it does not make them right.

There were times in this country where majorities saw it fit to...

-Allow slavery
-Deny the right to vote to Blacks
-Deny the right to vote to Women
-Place American citizens in internment camps

We look at those now as such out dated ideals of hate, but we look the other way at the one happening right in front of our nose today.