City Attorney Herrera Sues to Invalidate Prop 8
Wednesday November 5, 2008
In a news release issued today, City Attorney of San Francisco Dennis Herrera joined Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and Santa Clara County Counsel Anne C. Ravel in filing a petition for a writ of mandate with the California Supreme Court to invalidate Proposition 8.The argument behind the challenge is that the California Constitution's equal protection provisions "do not allow a bare majority of voters to use the amendment process to divest politically disfavored groups of constitutional rights."
From the news release:
"Such a sweeping redefinition of equal protection would require a constitutional revision rather than a mere amendment, the petition argues. Article XVIII of the California Constitution provides that a constitutional revision may only be accomplished by a constitutional convention and popular ratification, or by legislative submission to the electorate."
Comments
Why has everyone forgotten that the word marriage is a RELIGIOUS TERM.
Keep your agendas out of my religion!
but the state issues marriage licenses..
So long as the law mentions “marriage,” it remains a legal and hence secular construction in its eyes.
The term “marriage,” has never been the exclusive province of organized religion. What Prop 8 has done, is to effectively legalize discrimination against a particular segment of the population of California. I hope this lawsuit progresses successfully.
Bigoted and ignorant religious organizations, such as the Mormons, are among the so called “Christian” groups who have promoted their bigoted and ignorant agenda against gay marriage, with millions of dollars being summoned from church members.
From Austin Cline:
“In debates over gay marriage, much attention is paid to legal rights which same-sex couples miss out on because of their inability to marry. If we take a clos look at those rights, however, we find that most are about helping couples care for each other. Individually, the rights help spouses support each other; taken together, they help society express the importance of being a spouse and the fact that marrying changes who you are and your status in the community.”
“Marriage in America is indeed a contract — a contract that comes with more obligations than rights. Marriage is a civil right that is not now and has never been dependent upon any one religion or even religion in general for its justification, existence, or perpetuation. Marriage exists because people desire it and the community, working through the government, helps ensure that married couples are able to do what they need to in order to survive. At no point is religion needed or necessarily relevant.”
No, “Oh, Good Grief”, keep YOUR religion OUT of my civil rights!!! In case you haven’t figured it out yet, we’re not IN your church, we’re discussing the California STATE CONSTITUTION, which has absolutely NOTHING TO DO WITH “your church”. Also, there’s this “thing” that has been mandated since the founding of our country a few hundred years ago, called “separation of church and state.” I highly recommend you read up on it. Maybe you’ll learn something…Then again, you don’t seem terribly amenable to that, so perhaps you should just go pray and hope for the best.
Marriage or married should not be the lawful term IMO. Civil partnership should be the underlying law, by which you entered into through a license and authentication by a registered official.
If you choose to get married in Church, so be it. This is recognised by the state and all is well. If you are not allowed to do so due to the rules of the church, do it on a hill top or under a waterfall and get on with life - its nothing to do with anyone’s religion or beliefs, its a basic right. Maybe gays shouldn’t be allowed to vote either?
The UK has this done correctly and its a much better place for it.
Removing legal protection against couples of the same sex is unlawful and boils down to punishing a community just for not fitting in with how you see things.
Marriage is religious term??? LOL Is that why we have to go to city hall to get a marriage license??
>Marriage is religious term??? LOL Is that why we have to go to city hall to get a marriage license??
According to popular religion, yes it is. Historically its a vague area, but since record, it was only legalized initially via the church and stayed this way for a long time. American law is, we must not forget, still fairly young in this area.
My point was, “Whats in a name?”. I suspect a million or so votes.
True, the term marriage is not exclusive to organized religion, but in the United States the marriage ceremony is “usually” officiated by a representative from a religious order or denomination and sanctified by the God of scripture. Marriage in American cultural is both based and defined by Judeo-Christian doctrine.
Gay activits have accused the Mormon church of interfering in a political issue but the fact is that those sectors of the Gay community who support same-sex marriage have politicized a religious issue, not the other way around.
No one has a right to condemn the lifestyle any of one of us may chose to live but gays are exercising a double standard and hoping to affect the religious, Christian, Judeo definition of marriage which is the foundation of the institution of marriage as usually practiced in the U.S.
Clearly, the majority of the people who voted chose to outlaw same-sex marriage. The fact that citizens had a legal right to vote for Proposition 8 is being ignored so that one sector has its way. I am surprised that the gay community is resorting to the same tactics they deplore being used against them. It is hypocracy. As for our elected leaders, they are here to do the will of the people though in this case they seem to be ignoring what the majority have asked for and are expending valuable time and our money to push their personal agendas. That, is deplorable.
And NO, the passing of Prop 8 is not synonymous with legalizing discrimination! By the way, I do not remember the words “Vote for Prop 8 and legalize discrimination” being used to describe the intent of the proposal. I also happened to have seen more commercials against Prop 8 than for it. What happened, didn’t the gay community unite to vote against it?
I watched the O’Reilly Factor as an elderly woman was pushed back by a crowd of angry homosexuals and the cross she carried, thrown on the ground. Didn’t she have a right to contest the protests being held against Prop 8? Is this the same kind of ignorance and bigotry allegedly demonstrated by “religious organizations, such as the Mormons?”
Have your commitment ceremonies and lobby insurance companies and employers to open benefits to same-sex couples, particularly those raising children, but don’t hope to force a change of an institution many of us view as a reflection of the same covenant God has establshed for those who chose to follow Him.
Get over It.. The peolpe voted, you lost. I was not happy about obama winning but thatt’s the way it is. If you don’t like move to France……
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/marriage
sorry can you find the word religion here, thanks
ok cool, so now that opinion polls have become lawmaking process, my opinion is to subject all mormons tp permanent low level electroshock with occasional surges just for fun, sounds cool? sing my petition, if you don’t i’ll tell everyone. eh
Hey Sara,
Where exactly is that separation of church and state listed? I can’t find it anywhere.
We have have lost the battle, but the war continues on. We will never give up!! As the late Harvey Milk once said, “On the Dec. of Independence it is written, “ALL men are created EQUAL!”. No matter how hard you try, you can NEVER erase those words.”