Bad news, everyone. At least according to MSNBC - prop 8 has been called
BREAKING NEWS: California same-sex marriage ban approved by voters, AP reports
Despite my resolution not to cry, I'm sobbing anyway. I am so, so sorry to everyone here who lives in California and voted no on prop 8... and really, I'm sorry for everyone who believes in gay rights and gay marriages.
It makes the election results rather bittersweet for me, but again, I won't lose complete hope yet. Anything will be better than the past 8 years. I think we can all believe in that.
Most of the speculation I've seen about a constitutional challenge focuses on this idea: Since the court ruling that led to this proposition found that marriage was a "fundamental right" under the state constitution, you cannot take that right away by simply amending the constitution; you would need to revise it.
While an amendment only needs a simple majority vote, a revision requires a constitutional convention, which itself requires a two-thirds legislative vote -- something highly unlikely to happen in California. I've seen some suggestions that can also be accomplished with a two-thirds popular vote as well, but I've been unable to determine if that's the case, and doubt they'd ever get that on this issue.
I'm curious, however, at Allred's claim that her constitutional challenge will be "new" and "controversial." Has anyone heard any other speculation as to a court challenge on the grounds that this amendment is itself unconstitutional?
Small sliver of hope returning. Could that really happen?
It could. I've heard lots of talk about this being challenged because it's unconstitutional. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out in the end.
They keep playing parts of Obama's speech on CNN XD It gives me the shivers.
I thought my state was better than this. I'm bitterly disappointed.
But god, I hope that Prop 8 can be successfully challenged. It won't change the fact that so many people voted for hatred and intolerance, but at least it will give me a little more faith in our legal process.
I too am deeply disappointed in the state I live in. And I feel like I'm going to spend the next several months suspicious of everyone around me. Because over half of them would rather choose hate over tolerance.
If only I couldve punched the yes people...or kicked down the two signs by where I live. Or gotten a huge as NO ON 8 banner and set it up on the street corner. RAGE
guess Obama being president is the one glimmer of hope in all this.
I actually have good news! I went to celebrate this with my extended family in Detroit, and it was like 5 New years eve parties + discovering you had a long lost family member during the reuinion. Every hour cousin called from her apartment, to say which state Obama took. (I thought those CNN holograms were freaking awesome!) I found it jaw dropping that Texas looked to be a little "purple" that night (51/49 McCain). But when the results were read at 11PM we all cried like we had won the lottery. I called Andrew, he was at a bar watching it with both of his best friends, and people were actually arguing to buy free drinks where he was at! I took note when Obama has said along the lines of not to overestimate the level of apathy of youth and Politics.
...My best friend deliberately did not vote because she adimantly declares her hatred for politics. (She told me she stayed up all night watching Survivor reruns and movies.) I felt like rolling in a pile of "I voted" stickers and driving 2 hours to Saginaw just to strike up 'casual' conversation about the days events. I'm not in love with Politics, but Obama had pointed out Heather when he was talking about political apathy among the youth. It's a person's responsiblity to learn to care. For a country who traditionally has the lowest voter turnout in all of the Democracy nations, I think this is a step in changing people's attitudes first. I didn't bother calling her that night, but there was no way she could've brought down the room.
Thank you TCStarwind for the lovely signature! ^_^
I'm am so incredibly pissed off the Prop 8 actually passed. :|
To the point where I think ALL marriage should be banned. At least when it comes to the government. It's a religious thing, anyways, it doesn't belong in the government to begin with. Give everyone civil unions and leave marriage as an optional side-thing that couples can do if they feel like it. And no benefits for it, either. All benefits move to civil unions.
Then the crazy, overly religious, rednecks can go STFU. ...Not that they would.
To quote a friend of mine: "Get your God out of my government. It's illegal for him to be there anyway."
Then again, that would probably require an amendment to the constitution. And who knows how long that would take to pass.
Agggh. So pissed off. (But still REALLY glad Obama won! \o/)
dammit, I don't even live anywhere near California and I'm still incredibly depressed right now. it was infuriating enough that a proposition that serves absolutely no purpose other than to remove people's rights and force a particular belief onto an entire state was even being considered. the fact that it actually passed is completely disgusting and serves as yet another blow to my faith in humanity.
And the rest of the election was going so well, too... ;_;
on another note, SO not looking forward to work today (I work for a company that conducts political polls, among other things. it sucks but it's only till I find something less rage-inducing). I asked to have yesterday off because I knew it'd pretty much be a WARZONE.
At Derek's work, he's been getting into debates with his co-workers about Prop 8 recently. Today one walked in and said, "Well, at least the fags can't marry, right?"
I'm in Canada, so I couldn't go to any big election parties, but I was on IRC with a bunch of Subeta Drama people last night, cheering for Obama. We were all so excited when CNN announced that he'd won! We were upset about prop 8, though. When I finally went to bed around 3am my time, it was close and I was hoping the no side would win. I was disappointed to wake up and see that the haters had won instead. I have friends in California that are affected by this, and it really, really sucks. I expected better from California.
We were once doing a survey about healthcare in New Jersey, basically asking people if they had health insurance, exercised regularly, had been tested for AIDS/cancer/etc... the purpose was (among other things) to help determine how the state's healthcare funding should be used, etc etc, pretty straightforward stuff...
I got one guy who refused to answer any of the AIDS-related questions, because, and I'm only paraphrasing a little bit here, "The government should stop treating gay people for AIDS because they deserve what they get"
Yeah.
If someone ever invents a way to punch people over the phone, they'll be a millionaire within seconds.
guess Obama being president is the one glimmer of hope in all this.
