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ORIGINAL: MISTRAD
Ah, but California’s Constitution gives voters the right to change the constitution.
So, even if this ban is overturned on some technicality, you cannot say the voters don’t have the right to change the California Constitution, and therefore, the right to ban gay marriages.
Also, whether gay rights is a basic civil right. I doubt that the Supreme Court, for example, would currently declare it a civil right based on the US constitution. And the California supreme court had to basically derive the right out of thin air…which is what caused this ban to be proposed in the first place.
The biggest irony? If obama wasn’t the candidate, it is very likely that the ban would have failed. Law of unintended consequences.
It is good that voters have the right to change the constitution. How can you have a democracy if they do not? However, changing the constitution has to be done by due process.
Laws can be made that ban gay marriage. Stupid laws are made all the time. But in time more rational minds will prevail. There is a long learning curve for gay rights. Actually, with respect to marriage, it is not so much about gay rights as it is about the human rights of people who happen to be gay.
You say the learned Supreme Court of California “derived the right out of thin air”. Why do you say this? Are you a legal scholar? Maybe the Supreme court knew what they were doing. I am certainly no legal scholar. But I know that unless proven otherwise, a Supreme court is probably right, at least from a legal standpoint. Normally the way to appeal an incorrect State Supreme Court ruling would be to appeal to the US Supreme Court, not to appeal directly to voters who probably do not understand the legal subtleties involved.
How does Obama being a candidate for president relate to gay marriage in California? Law of unintended consequences? If this minor problem of transiently not recognizing new gay marriages in California is a consequence of electing Obama, then it is a consequence gladly paid. However, I don’t see how Obama’s election relates to gay marriage in California.
