California voters have adopted a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage which will overturn the recent California Supreme Court decision that gave gay couples the right to marry just months ago.
The passage of Proposition 8 represents a crushing political defeat for gay rights activists, who had hoped public opinion on the contentious issue had shifted enough since the state overwhelmingly passed an earlier gay marriage ban in 2000 to help them defeat the measure.
Although disappointed, Gay rights activists still cling to hope.
“We pick ourselves up and trudge on,” Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said early Wednesday. “There has been enormous movement in favor of full equality in eight short years. That is the direction this is heading, and if it’s not today or it’s not tomorrow, it will be soon.”
With the continuing trend of moral decay in American, Kendell’s last statement does not surprise me.
On the other side of the debate, Frank Schubert, co-manager of the Yes on 8 campaign says, “People believe in the institution of marriage. It’s one institution that crosses ethnic divides, that crosses partisan divides. People have stood up because they care about marriage and they care a great deal.”
Amid uncertainty over when the amendment takes effect, gay and lesbian couples continued seeking marriage licenses throughout the state Wednesday. They were successful in some jurisdictions and not others where county clerks wanted direction before sanctioning any more same-sex unions.
A similar proposition was passed in Arizona as well – Proposition 102, which simply adds the following article related to marriage to Arizona’s state constitution:
“Marriage – Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state.”
Both these propositions are a huge victory for those who wish to protect the sanctity of marriage. Let’s only hope that people all over this great country will continue to stand up for what is right and favor traditional family values.
