Minority Rights Not for Majority Rule

The rights of the minority cannot and should not be legislated by the opinion of the majority. Yes on 8 goes against the fundamental tenant and purpose of the constitution, which was created to protect minorities from majorities. In fact, Brown v. Education cemented this very basic value by granting civil liberties to a segment of the population that has been denied of them.

Furthermore, the court legislated in Brown v. Education that separate but equal is unconstitutional. Hypothetically, even if civil unions are granted all the legal rights that marriages enjoy (which they do not currently), the mere fact that there are two separate categories is unconstitutional because you are creating a chasm within the population. The underlying message here is that gays and lesbians are second class citizen and that only one group can stake a claim to the institution of marriage.

I had a discussion with a Mormon friend yesterday about this issue. She was shocked to learn that state and church recognition of marriage is two distinct processes. This means that while the state may recognize that a couple is married, the church does not and vice versa. My boss was a Mormon and was married in the Mormon church. She has since gotten a legal divorce but has not declared the couple's separation in the Church. The Church still recognizes her as being married while the State does not.

In terms of process, the petition process is invalid because the initial process was improperly used to undo a fundamental right the constitution's core commitment to equality for everyone by eliminating a fundamental right from just one group – lesbian and gay Californians. Proposition 8 also improperly attempts to prevent the courts from exercising their essential constitutional role of protecting the equal protection rights of minorities. According to the California Constitution, such radical changes to the organizing principles of state government cannot be made by simple majority vote through the initiative process, but instead must, at a minimum, go through the state legislature first. ACLU and others are bringing this case to the court.