Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Prop 8 Does Not Exist In Isolation

Well, we're coming down to the wire and the rhetoric is soaring higher than ever. One thing I wanted to comment on today is the fact that proposition 8 does not exist in a vacuum. There will be ripples (tidal waves?) emanating outward if it fails.

I have noticed that advocates for the no side revert increasingly to statements like....
  • "Other people's marriages don't affect you. Live and let live."
  • "Proposition 8 has nothing to do with what children will be taught in schools"
  • "It won't hurt your church."
If proposition 8 is considered in isolation, all of these things are true. Obviously it does not. There are many probable and even automatic consequences which will undeniably arise. It is completely acceptable to examine the relevant events that followed the legalization of same-sex marriage in other states (Massachusetts) or countries (Canada, Norway, Spain, South Africa).
  • Kids are being taught about gay marriage in school in Massachusetts and California
  • In 2004, Justices of the Peace in Massachusetts were fired for refusing to perform gay marriages on moral or religious grounds
  • The United Methodist Church had tax-free status revoked for refusing to let a same-sex couple use its property for a ceremony
  • Boston Catholic Charities was given a choice: abandon your morals or shut your doors. It shut down after placing children in homes for over 100 years.
  • Ake Green, a Pentecostal Pastor in Sweden was tried, convicted, and sent to prison for a month for preaching against homosexuality
  • In Canada, pastor Stephen Boisson was fined $7000 and ordered to remain silent from the pulpit for writing a letter criticizing the gay agenda to the newspaper
The list goes on. The important thing is that it has happened and it will happen again in different ways and in different places. It will happen increasingly in California if Prop 8 fails.

Let's examine, on the other hand, what would happen if Prop 8 passes. The definition of marriage is reaffirmed and ... that's it. Nothing else. Nobody loses any rights. Nobody gains any additional rights. Everybody already has equal rights.

Please, my fellow Californians, preserve rights for everyone by voting YES on 8!

Concerned in California
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2 comments:

WestBerkeleyFlats said...

Concerned,

Your statement:

"Let's examine, on the other hand, what would happen if Prop 8 passes. The definition of marriage is reaffirmed and ... that's it. Nothing else. Nobody loses any rights. Nobody gains any additional rights. Everybody already has equal rights.

Please, my fellow Californians, preserve rights for everyone by voting YES on 8!"

is Orwellian. Same-sex couples would lose the right to marry in California if Prop. 8 were to pass, thus depriving them of equal rights.

October 29, 2008 at 1:52 PM
concernedincalifornia said...

Triple word score for using the word Orwellian, my friend, but marriage is not a right. I would assert that what would be truly Orwellian would be to allow liberal groups trumpeting all pet causes to redefine society one piece at a time. Take that to infinity and you have a society in which the only right is to do whatever you want and in taking any action you would violate the rights of someone or everyone else.

October 29, 2008 at 7:08 PM

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