Perhaps the reason Americans are up in arms over Prop 8

[ruggerson]

is because this is the first time that an EXISTING constitutional right was actually taken away.

By a simple majority vote, no less.

It has pushed many people, both straight and gay, right over the edge.

You know the old poem, "In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist..."

What we're witnessing is a genuinely unique and important moment in history - when a human rights movement, tens of million strong, at long last found a national voice.

To paraphrase our President Elect from his acceptance speech:

ENOUGH!

[bluestateguy]

1. How about a referendum requiring all Mormons to leave California?

That is not a policy position that I favor, but that is the political approach that Prop. 8 endorses: constitutional rights are up for a majority vote.

So why not?

[Hepburn]

17. I would carry a petition and get signatures on that! n/t

[Captain Hilts]

2. Folks in DC went through something similiar when the right to have a vote in Congress was taken away

by Gingrich.

[123infinity]

3. I'm happy for our next prez but I sure wish he had been just a little more supportive

on this. I guess we will see how magic of power affects him.

[Maat]

4. Exactly ... this is a constitutional crisis.

If we let the opposition's argument stand, then they will be able to "slightly circumscribe" any number of vital rights.

It is appalling that they spat upon our state constitution like this! It will not stand!

Equality for all - everywhere!

[Starry Messenger]

5. Exactly!

Why is that so hard to explain? I'm straight here in California and of course outraged on behalf of gay friends and relatives. But this is the first very successful shot across the bow from Dominionists bent on changing the country to their own horrible vision. This is some very scary shit people.

[Democrats_win]

6. RW talk radio had a terrible answer to that argument.

Here's what those (f****rs) said about grandfathering in the marriages that occured before the election: When the amendment outlawing slavery was enacted, slave owners were not allowed to keep their slaves. They had to give them up. (This argument could be used against the argument that our rights were taken away: the slave owner's rights were taken away.)

Doesn't it give you comfort that our enemies are using the rights of slave owners to defend their actions? No one should be surprised that the Mormons stand with slave owners. They've long preached against African Americans!!!! (Only in the past few years have they realized that they were wrong.)

[IndianaGreen]

7. The Mormon Church opposed the Equal Rights Amendment

and until very recently, they held the view that Blacks were damned by God, carrying the Mark of Cain.

[MadMaddie]

8. Honestly I believe the Mormons publicly changed their

stance....behind closed doors they are still racist.

[madmadmad]

9. please, you know that's a given

[AndrewP]

11. I certainly don't doubt that

[ruggerson]

18. agreed

100%

[Gregorian]

10. Freedom for only some of the people.

America wasn't created to be hypocritical in it's nature. So what if someone wants to marry a god damned frog, for example. Well, isn't that what freedom is? Being FREE? Because if we aren't free, then what are we?


Yes, and it's about time.

[Fumesucker]

12. Your statement isn't really accurate...

The Constitution had to be amended to outlaw alcohol and then amended again to make it legal once more.

No such amendment has been even proposed regarding other drugs, the right of Americans to do with their own body as they wish has been overthrown without even as much as a majority vote. Rather the SCOTUS has interpreted the Commerce clause of the Constitution in such a wide manner that virtually anything could be made illegal under that interpretation, even something as innocuous as say tomatoes.

There are around a million Americans who have basically done nothing wrong doing hard time due to this ridiculous interpretation of the commerce clause of the Constitution.

I realize mine is a politically incorrect view and I expect to be chastised for stating it.

[tavalon]

13. I was as horrified as the next reasonable person that prop 8 existed and then passed

but it's showing itself to have a silver lining. They pushed gays and the people who support them (and there are far more who support them than who don't) over the edge. We were angry but docile before. Now, we're furious and energized. They just shouldn't have pushed it this far. Now, there's hell to pay.

It's hard to believe in 11 short days I've come from sputtering rage to bemusement. I couldn't be more pleased that it was the fundy whackadoos that pushed this from a "fringe" issue straight into the mainstream. It will be at the FWs door that gay rights end up moving forward at an extremely accelerated rate. How is that for extreme irony?

[EFerrari]

14. How soon we forget Magna Carta.

No, the real "problem" here is these bastards waited four years too long to pull this sh!t. Their movement is dead and they'll never get away with this now.

[TheWraith]

15. Frankly it's stupid that California lets their constitution be changed by 50% plus one.

If all you need to do to change the state constitution is bamboozle a slim majority of voters for a few weeks, that's just begging for all kinds of abuse and bullshit.

[AntiFascist]

16. It's not that simple...

if you read through all the legal documents filed with the lawsuits, anything that substantially changes the government plan (state constitution) is considered a revision not an amendment, and there is plenty of legal precedent for Prop. 8 being a Revision. A Constitutional Revision requires 2/3 approval by both houses of the state legislature before it can be put to a vote, or it needs to come out of a constitutional convention. If Prop 8 is ruled to be an invalid Revision, then it will be overturned.