Not too long ago I participated in a discussion in the comment section at Winds of Change. There I saw a commenter make a rather startling point:

I hate to sound like a broken record, but you simply don't get to an equal protection violation unless you first redefine marriage itself.

Recently the same attorney general who left out the compelling state interest to marriage of responsible procreation that was on a winning streak in state supreme courts, changed the summary language of Prop 8. Now, reported by the LA Times, "the attorney general's office changed the language to say that Proposition 8 seeks to 'eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry.'"

[Read on...]

To marry is somewhat ambiguous, do you mean the legal proceeding or just living together? All to often in this debate we trip over words which can have very technical definitions yet parade in much looser garb for the average person. Words like "causation" and "proof". And we we've noted on Opine, even professional pollsters get this confused when they conflate support for Civil Unions as support for gay marriage.

I would be happier with the wording if they were less ambiguous on the term "marry". Prop 8 does not impact any form of marriage they might create to cover their own relationships. No right to form such relationships and have them recognized is challenged. But what is solidified is twofold...

1. The redefinition of marriage which causes the bromidic equal protection rhetoric is no longer possible by judicial zealotry.
2. Marriage really does mean something rooted in our own common humanity as offspring and family

Remember, all rights and priveleges of marriage were already conferred in California with Domestic Partnerships. And that won't change with Prop 8.

I consider it a forced hand, something like that same commenter from Winds of Change said a little later in the conversation:

I don't want government to be allowed to define marriage, but gay couples in California are demanding that the government step in and do so. Given the full faith and credit clause in the Constitution, which may force all other states to recognize it once California does, why should I not speak out against the government's newly scribbled definition?

So, if I were to offer a helpful suggestion to compromise and be more clear for the voter I would change, "eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry", to note that it is a legal term or label. Something like, "eliminate the right of same-sex couples to reshape the legal term of marriage".

Fair enough?



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The woman in my avatar is Cristina Scabbia and the woman in my profile picture is Tarja Turunen
Sun flames and moons glow, timeless the tides will flow, what will I face, what will be mine, fortune and fate the other side...

Public thanks to Catzmeow for enabling me to make my goal of half a million credits by Xmas.

just wasted my time here.

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ACCEPTANCE IS THE ANSWER!

We will knock on the door, if it does not open, we will revolt for our rights.

Im a Tarte, what! you want some of this?

__________________
The woman in my avatar is Cristina Scabbia and the woman in my profile picture is Tarja Turunen
Sun flames and moons glow, timeless the tides will flow, what will I face, what will be mine, fortune and fate the other side...

Public thanks to Catzmeow for enabling me to make my goal of half a million credits by Xmas.

WE FINALLY DID IT!!!!!

Hooray!!!

I still remember when we even wondered if it was possible to get Opineblog two red blobbies.....

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"It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a 'dismal science.' But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.

--Murray Rothbard

__________________
The woman in my avatar is Cristina Scabbia and the woman in my profile picture is Tarja Turunen
Sun flames and moons glow, timeless the tides will flow, what will I face, what will be mine, fortune and fate the other side...

Public thanks to Catzmeow for enabling me to make my goal of half a million credits by Xmas.