Under California law, “domestic partners shall have the same rights, protections and benefits” as married spouses (Family Code §297.5.). Prop8 doesn’t take rights from same-sex couples but its failure will take them from YOU:
Courts have an important role in government but NOT in defining American values. That right belongs with the people.
To overrule the voters, the court must find unequivocally that voters have done something they cannot legally do. That was not the case here. This case divided the court resulting in a narrow decision to overturn state law – not because voters were legally wrong, but because four judges decided to change the law to suit their views. Presumably, 4 million Californians were stupid to think that traditional marriage was critical to the common good.
By overturning state law the court elevated same-sex marriage to the highest legal class possible: a protected class. That means when the rights of people opposed to same-sex marriage on moral or religious grounds conflict with the rights of same-sex couples, the courts will side with same-sex couples because of this protected class status. A San Diego clinic was sued and lost for refusing to perform artificial insemination for a lesbian couple (Aug 2008).
A recent California court held that municipal employees may not say: "traditional marriage," or "family values" because, after the same-sex marriage case, it is "hate speech."
When a Massachusetts court created "same-sex" marriage, Catholic Charities in Boston was forced to shut down its adoption services program because Cardinal O’Malley refused to alter their 100 year old mission of placing children in homes with a mother and a father.
Does the desire of same-sex couples to marry trump a child’s right to have both a mother and a father?
Children are entitled to be cared for and know the two parents who brought them into this world. Today’s foundational human rights document in the world regarding children, the 1989 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, specifically guarantees children this right. Aren’t Americans supposed to be in favor of internationally recognized human rights, particularly concerning children (society’s most voiceless and vulnerable group)? Every child raised by same-sex couples will be denied his birthright to both parents who made him – every single one; and it won’t be a consequence of something tragic, like divorce or unexpected pregnancy. The children adopted (or “inseminated”) into same-sex marriages will be told that something wonderful has happened!
Since Massachusetts-court-mandated-legalization of same-sex marriage, public schools teach about the normalcy and merits of homosexual marriage. In a famous case, a teacher taught a second-grade class from a book called “King and King” recounting the story of a prince marrying another “prince”. The story ends with princes kissing. Parents complained they were not notified so they could simply ‘opt-out’ their child from that instruction, but school officials were unresponsive. Parents sued and lost. The judge dismissed the civil rights lawsuit and agreed that teachers have a "legitimate state interest" in teaching the homosexual lifestyle and parents have no input into those decisions. This is a frightening example – government stealing parents’ right, protected by the U.S. Constitution, to shape the upbringing of their young children.
In 1996 under President Clinton Congress declared, "Marriage is the foundation of a successful society" and overwhelmingly passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in the House: 342-67 and Senate: 85-14. DOMA defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman for purposes of all federal laws, and provides that states need not recognize same-sex marriages from another state.
In the Vice Presidential debate: “Let’s try to avoid nuance, Senator. Do you support gay marriage?” BIDEN: No. Barack Obama nor I support redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage. We do not support that… PALIN: Your question to [Biden] was whether he supported gay marriage and my answer is the same as his and it is that I do not.
There is not one state in America where the people have voted for gay marriage – In California, Massachusetts and Connecticut judges overturned state law.
Are the candidates, the people of America, and Congress all wrong together?
Prop8 Opponents cite “phony anxieties over religious freedom." They should read the article from the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy "Or For Poorer, How Same Sex Marriage Threatens Religious Liberty" 2005 report of the conference, sponsored by Becket Fund where legal scholars on BOTH sides of the issue discussed the religious freedom implications of same-sex marriage, all sharing one conclusion—that it creates an unprecedented level of legal confusion and invites a tidal wave of lawsuits.
The plan to defeat Prop8 isn’t about saying “were married”. It’s about forcing an agenda on Californians that transforms marriage into just a contractual relationship between adults. No longer will children’s or families’ interests be considered. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom arrogantly declared to Californians, “The door’s wide open now. It’s gonna happen, whether you like it or not!” Only a Yes vote on Proposition 8 protects children, parents, individuals and businesses.