Gay Marriage Takes It In The.....Ballot Box

The California Supreme Court has unanimously refused to hear a legal challenge by gay marriage advocates to Proposition 8,which would amend the State Constitution to define marriage as only between one man and one woman.

It will go on the ballot in November and I'd be surprised if it didn't pass handily, especially as all it needs is a simple majority.

If it does,this would be the second time the voters of California have outlawed same-sex marriages in the state,and part of the sentiment against it comes from people who dislike the idea of judges essentially legislating from the bench and thwarting the will of the people simply because they felt like it. The last time this was up before the voters,back in 2000, 61% of them voted for it, in the form of proposition 22.

Last May, the same Supreme Court overturned Proposition 22 by a 4-3 vote, even though the justices acknowledged that California's Domestic Partnership law gave gay couples essentially the same rights as heterosexual married couples.

The actual opinion was interesting as I pointed out earlier, because very early on it became an ipse dixit( legalese for 'because I said so') opinion and stops citing existing law and the California Constitution to dwell in the cloudlands of 'fundamental rights'.

Yes, four of these same justices somehow inferred a right to gay marriage in the state constitution, and the voters? Faggedabbouddit. California became the second state in the union to legalize same-sex marriage, and the only one to recognize same-sex marriages from out of state.

That was apparently a little too much for the electorate to swallow, and Proposition 8, which will void the decision by permanently amending the state constitution will be on the ballot.

The people of California will now vote on the issue...again.

Californians will also be voting for president in November, with one candidate, John McCain, who's on record as opposing same-sex marriages and another Barack Obama who isn't.Add that to the large Latino vote that is likely to both support the initiative and have some very mixed feelings about Barack Obama anyway (Hillary Clinton won the Hispanic vote in California by better than two to one) and things could get interesting in California at election time.