(no subject)

[thoreau]

well its a interesting morning to wake up to - as I thought - Prop 8 would track closer as the votes got tallied. at 8% of the vote counted it was 65% yes - at 20% before I went to bed it was 54% yes. and now at 95% of the vote counted it is at 52% yes. I don't see much hope that the last 3% gain will move the proposition below 50% to defeat.

It's shameful that it only takes a simply majority to amend the state constitution, because honestly - a simple majority is pretty easy to accomplish. Particularly considering Prop 8 has won by staggering margins in the central valley...as high as 78% in some central california counties. It makes the urban centers - who are voting no on 8 hard to create a balance.

so it doesn't mean the fight is over - it means the fight is just going to take longer. All the better reason for happiness over the Obama victory - because he will nominate three supreme court justices - that will eventually decide the gay marriage question for the nation. We need to start collecting signatures to up the vote requirement for amending the state constitution - if it had been been 2/3rds like most every other state across the country? Prop 8 would have soundly been defeated.

I need to get coffee and take Miss Kate out for a walk - my day has to start like any other. and we'll continue to fight for what we know is right.

Last night - I was listening to a President-elect Obama talk about a 106 year old voter who cast her vote in Georgia - how she was born one generation past slavery - - and the host of progressive movement forward she's witnessed in her lifetime. He wondered outloud - that if his young daughters live to 106 - what amazing progressive moves forward will they be witness to.

I am confident that one of those things will be marriage equality in America. There is a lot of reason to be upset that such a terrible amendment could succeed in a state like California. but there is a lot of reasons to understand that it's a single event in the battle - the battle for equal rights for gay Americans is just getting rolling. We - as gay Americans - need to stand up for equal access to healthcare, job discrimination.... as well as marriage equality. In the thirty-nine years since Stonewall - and the thirty years since Harvey Milk - and the ten years since Matthew Shepard - there have been great advances in our cause.

It does nobody any good to lose the hope that got us here. Because surely - the fight is ready to head to the next level. and armed with truth - we will win. It is not a matter of "if" - but when.

Comments

[phreddd.livejournal.com]

I smell lawsuits, too.

[low-fat-muffin.livejournal.com]

there is no grounds for a lawsuit - unless I'm missing a point somewhere. its a pretty straight forward initiative system.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I saw the story about that 106-year old woman and her family. She's still a firebrand, with all the spunk and smarts that got her this far, and a fine family around her, huge as it is.

Her name is Nettie. Needless to say upon hearing that name, I screamed it out loud, Celie-style.

[bruinwi.livejournal.com]

Like Wisconsin, California's constitution can be amended by a simple majority of the popular vote. While I think it's grand that the people have control over what goes into their state constitution, the process seems to easy; it seems that a document so fundamental to state law should be more difficult to change: malleable, yes, but not plastic.

This is likely going to go back to the state's supreme court, but it'll probably come down to minutia: How exactly is the Prop 8 Amendment worded? If the conservatives who put Prop 8 on the ballot learned anything from when same-sex marriage was upheld, they were very careful and selective in the wording of the amendment.

As a wise, if fictional man once said, "It's been my observation that good often loses to evil, unless good is very, very careful."

[nudewoody.livejournal.com]

We as gay people need to stand up and demand healthcare, etc., for everyone; not just married or working folks.

[daddycoug.livejournal.com]

I've been wondering a lot about the 50% + 1 vote thing for a long time. To change the Constitution of the US, it's passed by 2/3 of the congress and then must be ratified by 3/4 of the states, the bar is set high for a reason. Why then is a state constitution SO easy to change, it makes no sense to me. Once it's there it's harder to remove than it was for it to be added in.

[kiltbear.livejournal.com]

From what I have read, the measure did not remove language with which it conflicts... so which part wins?

Possible example: if the decision to allow same gender marriages is based on equality regardless of gender, and that piece was not amended, then how does the court reconcile this new legislation which would be in direct conflict with that.

[low-fat-muffin.livejournal.com]

the four of us need to have dinner and play board games - like all other boring married couples. (wink)