Letter: Prop. 8 misconceptions

[Hepburn]

Let's clear up a few misconceptions about Proposition 8 so people can base their votes on truth rather than smokescreens:

1. Domestic partnership is not the same as marriage. Not only does it lack the same cultural significance, but domestic partnership does not grant any of the over 1000 rights and benefits of marriage under federal law, including the right to sponsor a partner for immigration purposes.

Additionally, the state protections for domestic partnership do not apply outside of California; if your partner is injured in another state, you may not have hospital visitation or medical decision-making rights. A no vote would help change this status quo of inequality in California and the country as a whole.

2. Proposition 8 is not about schools, as pointed out by the state superintendent and California Teachers Association. The Yes on 8 campaign continues to use the Massachusetts situation to speculate about what may happen here, ignoring the fact that California law has stronger opt-out policies than Massachusetts, giving parents more control over what their children learn.

3. Marriage is a civil right, as established in the court case Loving vs. Virginia, which legalized interracial marriage. If the definition of marriage was not allowed to expand, people of different races would still not be able to marry, despite their love for each other.

4. Proposition 8 is not about "activist judges ignoring the will of the people." Our country has a system of checks and balances to ensure that the will of the people does not oppress the minority. It took the courts to push forward school desegregation and interracial marriage when those policies were not, at the time, supported by public opinion.

The California Supreme Court evaluated the will of the people in Proposition 22 and found its ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

DIANE CHENG

Merced

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/177/story/526346.html

PROP 8 MUST BE DEFEATED ~~ WE CANNOT LET THE EVANGEL BIGOTS WIN!

[SoCalNative]

1. I posted a comment

rebutting the comment of the first poster. People really are stupid and won't take the time to find out the facts for themselves, they will just go with the sound bytes they hear on the news.