The change in description for Proposition 8 has been upheld by not one but two courts. Both a Superior Court in Sacramento County and the third DCA have agreed that it was properly within the Attorney General’s discretion to change the description of Proposition 8 from “Limit on marriage” and “Amends the California Constitution to provide that only marriage between a man and a women is valid or recognized in California” to “Eliminates right of same-sex couples to marry” and “Changes the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California.”
Why did Jerry Brown do that? Because in between the submission of the initiative and its subsequent qualification for the ballot, the Court handed down the Marriage Cases opinion, establishing the right of same-sex couples to marry. Where before it was at best ambiguous as to whether same-sex couples could marry, that issue was decided in the Marriage Cases and as of right now, same-sex couples do have a right to marry. If it passes, Proposition 8 would amend the Constitution to take that right away. Brown’s change of description was accurate and that’s how it should go to the voters.
It’s been nearly a month since the last poll, which showed a near dead heat between likely voters as to whether they would support or oppose Proposition 8, with a slim majority opposed to it. I’m inclined to think that any voter who hasn’t heard by now that there is same-sex marriage in California and that Proposition 8 would eliminate is probably paying so little attention to politics that this would-be voter isn’t going to vote in the first place.
By the way, if you are still undecided, please vote “no.”
Considering that ProtectMarriage.com has decided NOT to appeal the ballot language, what chance do you really see for Prop 8 to pass? I just don’t see a majority of Californians voting YES on a proposition titled ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY.Once the churches realize that Prop 8 is an almost guaranteed loser, are they going to do the right thing and let their members know? If not, what happens after Prop 8 loses by 40-60 (or worse), and then the members find out that the church leadership was privy all along to internal polling that predicted a crushing defeat? Do the members get their money back?Or do they get stuck paying for ads that were run by a campaign that knew it was going to lose but ran them anyway!
I tend to agree with you, CB. But I also don’t see the zealots behind Prop. 8 stopping until they get beat on the battlefield. So the answers to your question are “No,” “No,” and “Yes.”Enjoy the rally. It’s a little bit of a drive for me but I’ll be with you in spirit.