Proposition 8 Has Won – Gay Marriage Banned
November 7, 2008 by James Hipps
Earlier today, there were still approximately three million votes to be counted, and some were saying the vote on Proposition 8 was too close to call. Now however, with 100% of the ballots being counted, it looks as though Proposition 8 has passed.
The fight however is far from over. Lambda Legal and the ACLU petitioned the California Supreme Court on behalf of Equality California and six same-sex couples urging the court to invalidate Prop 8 if it passes. The legal petition charges that Prop 8 is invalid because the initiative process was improperly used in an attempt to undo the constitution’s core commitment to equality for everyone by eliminating a fundamental right from just one group, being gay and lesbian Californians. The petition also says Prop 8 improperly attempts to prevent the courts from exercising their essential constitutional role of protecting the equal protection rights of minorities. California’s attorney general has stated that existing California marriages will remain valid.
CA Supreme Court Justice Kennard said it better than I could:
“In holding today that the right to marry guaranteed by the state Constitution
may not be withheld from anyone on the ground of sexual orientation, this court
discharges its gravest and most important responsibility under our constitutional
form of government. There is a reason why the words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’
are inscribed above the entrance to the courthouse of the United States Supreme
Court. Both the federal and the state Constitutions guarantee to all the ‘equal
protection of the laws’ (U.S. Const., 14th Amend.; Cal. Const., art. I, § 7), and it is
the particular responsibility of the judiciary to enforce those guarantees. The
architects of our federal and state Constitutions understood that widespread and deeply rooted prejudices may lead majoritarian institutions to deny fundamental
freedoms to unpopular minority groups, and that the most effective remedy for this
form of oppression is an independent judiciary charged with the solemn
responsibility to interpret and enforce the constitutional provisions guaranteeing
fundamental freedoms and equal protection.”
“Absent a compelling justification, our state government may not deny a right as fundamental as marriage to any segment of society. Whether an unconstitutional denial of a fundamental right has occurred is NOT a matter to be decided by the executive or legislative branch, OR BY POPULAR VOTE, but is instead an issue of constitutional law for resolution by the judicial branch of state government.”
*Caps are mine for emphasis.