Activists Rethink Their Gay-Marriage Tactics

From TIME
The fight over gay marriage is not over in California, or anywhere else in the U.S. Street protests dragged into the weekend in Los Angeles and other Golden State cities, and legal challenges are already asking the California Supreme Court to overturn the Nov. 4 statewide vote on Proposition 8 that made same-sex marriage in California not only illegal but unconstitutional. On Sunday, gay-marriage supporters got an unexpected boost from Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The term-limited governor had always opposed the amendment but had not campaigned against it or come out in support of gay marriage. “They should never give up,” he said on CNN, referring to proponents of gay marriage. “They should be on it and on it until they get it done.” He called the Election Day vote against same-sex marriage “unfortunate, obviously, but it’s not the end. I think that we will again maybe undo that, if the court is willing to do that, and then move forward from there and again lead in that area.”
The legal challenge endorsed by the governor is a suit filed by the ACLU and other groups who allege that the referendum that won on Nov. 4 with nearly 53% of the vote is invalid. “It would constitute a constitutional revision, not a constitutional amendment and, as such, the California Constitution provides that it may not be enacted by initiative,” reads the request for an immediate stay to stop Proposition 8 from becoming law. In plainer language, what the suit says is that because the gay-marriage ban so fundamentally alters the state constitution by taking away a fundamental right from some citizens, the change should be viewed as a revision instead of an amendment — and the California Constitution requires that so-called revisions be passed by both houses of the legislature before being submitted to voters.
The request is directed at the same court that in May issued one of the most sweeping declarations of fundamental gay rights in U.S. legal history, making same-sex marriage legal by a 4-3 vote. The Republican-dominated court could decide by the end of this week whether to rule on the request for a stay or send it to a lower court first. But whatever the merits of the legal challenge, the court will face enormous pressure as it deliberates.
To read the rest of this article, check out TIME Magazine.
- Posted by Causecast
- |
- Go to original article
Related Articles
-
Gender-confused teens drug call
Young teenagers with serious gender identity disorders should be given drugs which will block pub...
- 12.10.08
- |
- 11:51am
-
'Milk' Screenwriter: Harvey Helped Me Come Out
Screenwriter Dustin Lance Black says he was among those for whom Harvey Milk made a real difference.
- 11.21.08
- |
- 06:11pm
-
Remembering Rita: Today is the Transgender Day of Remembrance
November 20 is the Transgender Day of Remembrance, which annually honors the memory of those murd...
- 11.20.08
- |
- 03:12pm










