A fair number of students asked me this week what will happen next in regards to gay marriage in California now that Prop 8 is part of the Constitution.
Here are several excellent sources on this:
Eugene Volokh on what will likely happen, legally speaking
Matthew Yglesias on the "backlash"
And of course Andrew Sullivan has a bazillion posts on this subject, which is fitting, since he -- FAR more than Gavin "Whether You Like It Or Not" Newsom -- really helped make gay marriage a reality over the past 15 years.
As mentioned in class, I don't see there being a legal remedy besides putting it back on the ballot and convincing more people on the merits. Maybe this will be ruled to be such a significant change that it requires a 2/3 vote, as there are 2 mechanisms for changing the California Constitution, and that would invalidate prop 8 (and enrage its fervent supporters.) But I doubt it. The best way to get gay marriage is to increase the respect in society for gay people, and frankly, I thought the no on 8 campaign completely failed in that respect. To earn more respect, we have to embrace the real fears that people have and talk them down. I find it telling that prop 8 passed by wide margins where few gay people live and was voted down by pretty wide margins where gay people are commonplace. Hmm. Familiarity breeds respect.
The Yes on 8 campaign capitalized on those fears, and their ad and direct mail campaign was pretty outrageous to me. "Hate is not a family value" remains the best bumper sticker of all time. Yet, while there is some irrational prejudice that borders on hate out there, calling all the Yes voters haters is not a winning strategy. Turning the other cheek and talking to people with respect? Much more difficult, but much more effective.
So tomorrow, some number of people, including myself, will be wearing black as a symbolic protest. I hope that no one gets overly confrontational about it on either side. Asking someone to articulate their reasoning is not offensive. Being outraged about holding a position that approximately half the State holds could be, and, moreover, it doesn't change anyone's mind.
I must admit that it was more than a little disheartening to be left out of what was a moment of national pride and reconciliation. Obama's victory was a very nice moment for the country that I celebrated heartily. Many Republicans who couldn't vote for Obama on policy grounds were similarly patriotic. Progress is good, even with a band of counties from Texas up through West Virginia that went against the otherwise across-the-board trend for Democrats which can't be explained away without involving race.
Still, it stung, more than I would have thought. As a teenager, as I realized that I was actually a disrespected minority, I became very interested in the struggle for racial justice. I loved my college coursework on the subject, and the civil rights movement was my favorite unit when I taught US history. I fear that had I not faced prejudice of my own that I might not have had much empathy or understanding for cultural identities beyond my own experience. So, far beyond the policy and politics of the moment, I cherished Obama's rhetorical calls for unity as well as his victory. And then, a few hours later, a major letdown, one that would not have happened had African-American turnout been especially high for this particular election. Had prop 8 been defeated by a narrow margin, it would have felt like a huge win, but really, we are talking about a different level of respect from 5% of the population, which is within sight, and I thank the many students who have expressed their solidarity over the past few days. There is little doubt that by the time your generation takes the reins of national power this issue will be about as settled as race seems to be here in 2008.
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8 comments:
I agree with the fact the that No on 8 campaigning did not do good. I was a bit surprised at the lack of support for No on 8. Why weren't there people parading on the sidewalks of San Mateo with No on 8 signs like there were for supporters of Prop 8? I also noticed a complete lack of signs.
Maybe all of this lack of support is due to lack of funds. Hopefully it is not because of lack of belief that there should be no discrimination towards anybody at all.
I completely agree. I think that the Yes on 8 advertisers had it easy. All they really did was convince people that the status quo should remain the same. As a society, it's hard to change what has been set in stone for so many generations. And it's easier to convince people to have things stay the same than to stray into the unknown. All the hate that has been generated over the past few days, though understandable, will not help us get this passed. The fact is, that prop 8 passed with a majority. And raging at the people that supported prop 8 will not change their opinions and probably will not repeal prop 8. Where I think the No on 8 campaign failed was in its inability to truly educate people unsure on the issues. Yes, the catchy phrases that I saw along the sides of the street conveyed a message, but how much does a sign that says "we're here! we're queer! deal with it." really teach the public? I feel as though we need to take it down a couple of notches, keep the same beliefs and passion, but use that to inform the public about all the issues at hand. It's very disheartening that California was able to pass this proposition, and I can only hope that eventually, people will see past things as trivial as sexuality and just view love as an emotion that can be shared among all people, regardless of gender.
It is quite disheartening that prop 8 was able to pass, and I feel that those that did vote yes on it are being unfair and kind of saying "yes, we are better than you" to homosexuals. By denying the right to marriage for homosexuals, the yes voters (who I assume to be mostly heterosexuals) assert their "dominance" and show what they feel, whether it be disgust or fear. But I can kind of see where they are coming from.
It seems to me that many yes votes come from parents and religious people. For parents, they've been around for a long time, and they grew up in an environment where they learned to treat gays differently. Only recently has that disrespect been dissipating; I guess they just need more time to adjust. Also, I know somebody who voted yes on 8 in response to signs such as that aggressive one Sarah has in her response. They believed that the gays will flaunt their victory just because they beat society. Although a small proportion of homosexuals may actually be at fault to this, the person needs to realize that it is not everyone, and even so, they are not at fault for responding to their discrimination.
Also I am not religious, so I can't see things from a religious person's point of view. But maybe, I'm guessing, that they must vote no or else God will be angry? Depending on how religious they are, I could see why they would vote yes.
Additionally, I think everyone also needs to look at the bright side of this issue. It's pretty obvious that as age goes down, support against 8 increases. As our generation becomes the middle-aged part of society, we will bring with us a lot of change--increased vigor for social equality included. America may not be ready for gay marriage yet, but that day is coming soon.
Sorry for this long and boring rambling comment.
I myself was quite blindsided by the passing of Prop 8. While I do understand how the 'No' on proposition 8 committee did a poor job of articulating a tangible and persuasive argument. I however, and this is a BIG however, do not comprehend how the flaws in the 'No' on prop 8 campaign were able to overshadow the enormous legal flaws (not to mention the contradictions) with the 'Yes' on Proposition 8 arguments.
First and foremost (and I mentioned this in my class editorial) I am a firm believer in the first amendment. I believe that the right to free speech should protect the people of this nation equally, and the law should reflect this. So, imagine my surprise when I notice that the slogan for 'Yes' on proposition 8 is "... Religious Freedom."
Ok, now im curious.
How does a proposition which reflects the views of a particular sect of religious views in turn translate to religious freedom? Well, the short answer is that it doesn't.
The fact of the matter is that if you're going to claim an argument like "Religious Freedom" then you better damn well sure make sure that you hold yourself responsible to every religion.I was under the assumption that we had Separation of Church and State
ANYWAY... Sorry about the rant.
I was really surprised that prop 8 got passed. I know that there are many gay people haters in California but I did not expect them to outnumber those people who support gay rights.
Not all people who voted yes on 8 are gay haters, I think they are just too religious and ignorant. Religious people argue that the "traditional definition" of marriage is the "union between a man and a woman" which is why many of them voted yes on 8. We can't blame them for supporting prop 8 becasue that's how they were brought up. Also, the "no on prop 8" ads failed at gathering support because they lacked funding and they didn't really show how gay people feel, they only focused on the unconstitutionality of prop 8.
Although Mr. Silton's assertions about the style of the No on 8 campaign is true, I don't think it accounts for the whole truth. There are plenty of people at Aragon who are clearly around gay people on a daily basis and still support denying them basic human rights. This clearly has nothing to do with a lack of knowing any normal gay people. The only explanation is the dogma associated with many organized religions, something which many devout are sadly not personally courageous enough to confront and defeat. I imagine that many of those that voted yes on Prop. 8 were not bigots and knew what they were doing was wrong. But, they did not want to face the internal conflict presented between the lessons they had been taught their whole lives and what they only recently discovered was right. In order to not bring other parts of their upbringing into question, they voted yes. In order to defeat this mindset, we must do more of what Mr. Silton alluded to, and that is demonstrate the normality of gay couples everywhere and how denying them rights is not just "what the Bible says" but instead decidedly immoral.
In response to Jason's comment, the fact is that peoples' morality won over the legal argument of the right to marriage. Even if the rejection of the prop is justified, not enough religious people are going to vote for it because marriage has been established between a man and a woman since the beginning of time. I certainly believe there should be no discrimination and I believe in the civil unions described by Sterling in our class elections. Unfortunately, the religious dogma does not have a worldly view and maybe the internal conflict you speak of is simply our conscience telling us right from wrong.
I was working the polls and I noticed something that I don't know if it had much effect but I thought was interesting. Most of the younger people were using the machines and most of the older people wanted to use a paper ballot. At the end of the day I was organizing the paper ballots and a majority of them were for Prop 8. But when the machines tallied the votes more than 80% were against prop 8. Hmmm...
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