Proposition 8: One Year Later

Almost a year after the passage of California’s Proposition 8, which outlawed same-sex marriage, the same fight is emerging for the Nov 3rd election in Maine. The election there is almost an exact replica of what happened in California last year.

Remember the cute couple who were worried about what their son was learning in school after gay marriage was legalized in Massachusetts? Well, after they moved from Massachusetts to California (only to discover that someone had given gays rights here too), they moved again to Maine! Now they’re running into the same gosh darn problem of those same-sex marriages. Maybe they should move to Alaska if they’re so worried about it. Oh, what’s that you say? They never moved out of Massachusetts!? Then why are they sticking their nose into my business?

Schubert Flint Public Affairs, the public relations firm hired to run the pro-Proposition 8 campaign has also been hired to run the campaign in Maine.

Meanwhile, has California forgotten about Proposition 8 already? Oh no, don’t worry, we have certainly not heard the last of this issue. Liberal advocacy group Courage Campaign is currently collecting signatures (and money) to put an initiative on the 2010 ballot to repeal Proposition 8. However, the major player on the anti-Proposition 8 side, Equality California, has announced that it will wait until 2012 to bring an initiative to California to legalize gay marriage and will spend the next three years on an extensive outreach campaign to educate Californians about the issue.

I’m oddly ok with the delay only because I am so tired of seeing ads (for and against the healthcare bill, for and against your favorite politicians, or for or against same-sex marriage) that make me want to break my TV. (It’s nice, it’s big, and I paid a lot of money for it so frankly, I prefer it remain intact.) So really, since 2012 is an election year anyway, and you can only imagine how ugly that’s going to get, you might as well throw in something else that gets everyone all worked up.

In a small win for same-sex marriage proponents, Governor Schwarzenegger recently signed a bill recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. Although the couples will not be considered technically “married” under the law, "the same legal protections available to couples that enter into civil unions or domestic partnerships in other states," Schwarzenegger wrote in his signing message. "In short, this measure honors the will of the people in enacting Proposition 8 while providing important protections to those unions legally entered into in other states." http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/story/2248216.html

In a small win for opponents of same-sex marriages, President Obama’s administration went to court to defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act just last month even though the President has stated that he personally opposes the statute and would support a repeal. The act (commonly referred to as DOMA) bars federal agencies (including the IRS) from recognizing same-sex marriages.

If you’d like to be able to follow this issue from afar, NPR has a very cool map showing all 50 states and their current laws related to gay marriage. It’s also interesting to see the issue from this perspective. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112448663