No matter what the Electoral College map says, California is no longer a blue state. Blue states do not ban gay marriage.
And there’s no external blame to place here. Yes, money poured in from the rest of the country to support Proposition 8, but it was our voters, our citizens, who put the language into the Constitution that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. It was our fellow citizens who, by no slim margin, voted to eliminate rights.
What can those of us who believe in universal human rights do? Move to Massachusetts? It’s a nice thought, but I’m not sure the former colony is large enough to house 48 percent of us. But I lived in Colorado when it passed Amendment 2 in 1992, banning legislation designed to protect homosexuals as a minority. I was there when the country became outraged over it, and Barbra Streisand boycotted the state. I was there when the constitutional amendment was overturned. It can be done.
Here are six things we can do end this travesty. This should not be a time for depression, but a time for swift response, just as the anti-homosexual lobby was swift in its response to the Supreme Court’s decision that love should not be legislated.
1: Propose an amendment to the California Constitution defining marriage as being between any two non-related human beings.
Going on the offense works. By November of 2009, we can fight this again, and by wording the amendment in this way, the “slippery slope” argument that gay marriage opens the door to polygamy, incest and beastiality is cut off at the head. And this is a good time to ponder what the heck the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was doing pushing so hard for the passage of Proposition 8. If any church in the history of America knows first-hand the horror of persecution based on beliefs about marriage….
2: If step one is accomplished, propose an amendment to the California Constitution that future amendments must pass by a two-thirds majority vote.
It’s ridiculous that it only takes a simple majority to rewrite the fabric upon which our legal system is based, especially since it takes a two-thirds majority to pass such things as specific taxes. The U.S. Constitution puts such a barrier up, and it only makes sense that changes to fundamental rights or basic processes should be passed by a sweeping mandate, not a split decision.
3: If step one is not accomplished, propose an amendment to the California Constitution that all marriages will heretofore be declared domestic partnerships by the state.
One pernicious argument of the pro-8 lobby was that homosexuals already have the full rights and privileges of marriage available to them in domestic partnership laws. If that is the case, under the assumption that America long ago discarded such “separate but equal” rhetoric as abominable, the state should only recognize domestic partnerships, leaving the designation of marriage up to religion. This would be the only way to guarantee the First Amendment right of freedom of religion under Proposition 8. (Right now, religions that do recognize gay marriage—yes, plenty of them exist—have had that right diminished by the state.) Sure, that will mean that no California union, straight or gay, will afford protections for immigrants under federal law, but the pro-8 lobby should have thought of that before arguing that domestic partnerships are the same as marriage.
4: Pass a law to allow “T” on California drivers’ licenses for transgendered citizens.
A big loophole in Proposition 8 is how it will deal with transgendered people—either those who identify with both genders, or those born with both sets of sexual equipment. Marriage licenses will still include a box for gender, presumably, but having official state identification listing a partner as transgendered ('T' instead of 'M' or 'F') will throw a wrench in the works, and possibly lead to a court case that could get heard at the federal level. As it stands, there’s little chance of U.S. Supreme Court reversal because marriage has long been held as a matter for the states to decide. However, if the highest court has to weigh in on the rights of the transgendered, there may be grounds to find the language of Prop 8 inadequate to providing civil rights.
5: Petition Commander-in-Chief Obama to end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy of the armed forces.
California is just one of many reddish states to pass gay marriage bans, and while it is trying to be at the vanguard of gay civil rights, it’s easier to get there if the rest of the country isn’t so far behind in recognizing those rights. One of the biggest areas where homosexuality is still repressed—and one that reaches into the provincial communities and conservative states where gay marriage is most adamantly opposed—is the armed forces. I, personally, have yet to speak with an active duty soldier who has talked about “don’t ask, don’t tell” with anything but scorn. Getting President-elect Obama to push for reform in this area will go a long way toward determining whether or not he is the second coming of Abraham Lincoln, or just the Democratic Party’s version of Ronald Reagan.
6: Get married anyway.
Civil disobedience works. There are still faiths that recognize homosexual union. Sure, the state might issue a domestic partnership certificate, but that doesn’t mean a church or synagogue or mosque or outdoor chapel still couldn’t call it a wedding, with all the trappings. That doesn’t mean there can’t be rings, and bells, and cake. That doesn’t mean the partners can’t refer to themselves as married. And be sure to throw in a flower girl. See if she doesn’t go back to her elementary school talking about the wedding of mommy and mommy. See what the teachers teach about that. Show the pro-8 lobby that their irrational fears about gay marriage are going to come true, yes, whether they like it or not.
There were tears of joy and relief on election night, and many people talked about a dawn of a new era. Until California sheds this abhorrent, bigoted language from its constitution, however, it cannot truly be a part of that new era. Until we reverse this decision, we are just another red state, left in the dust of the train to tomorrow.
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