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Published: November 6, 2008

“Contempt for the will of the people”

Same-sex marriage proponents won’t concede election, ask court to nullify Proposition 8

With 99.5% of the voted counted, Proposition 8 held a nearly half-million vote lead yesterday, but proponents of same-sex marriage are refusing to concede defeat and have filed a petition with the California Supreme Court to invalidate the constitutional amendment even if it wins.

With 25,318 of the state’s 25,423 precincts reporting yesterday afternoon, the Secretary of State said Proposition 8 held a 492,076-vote lead, with 52.5% of California voters approving the measure and 47.5% against. Called the “Protect Marriage Initiative,” Proposition 8 amends the state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriages, undoing a May decision by the California Supreme Court calling such a prohibition unconstitutional.

Yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed a petition with the California Supreme Court asking the justices, according to a news release, to nullify Proposition 8 “because the initiative process was improperly used in an attempt to undo the constitution's core commitment to equality for everyone by eliminating a fundamental right from just one group -- lesbian and gay Californians. Proposition 8 also improperly attempts to prevent the courts from exercising their essential constitutional role of protecting the equal protection rights of minorities.”

"If the voters approved an initiative that took the right to free speech away from women, but not from men, everyone would agree that such a measure conflicts with the basic ideals of equality enshrined in our constitution,” said Jenny Pizer, senior counsel with Lambda Legal. “Proposition 8 suffers from the same flaw -- it removes a protected constitutional right -- here, the right to marry -- not from all Californians, but just from one group of us. That's too big a change in the principles of our constitution to be made just by a bare majority of voters."

The same groups used nearly identical arguments before the election in a bid to get the Supreme Court to remove Proposition 8 from the ballot, but the court refused.

Proponents of Proposition 8 were quick to react. The move, said attorneys for the Alliance Defense Fund, “demonstrates the contempt such groups have for the will of the people.”

“This lawsuit is a brazen attempt to gut the democratic process,” said ADF senior counsel Glen Lavy. “The people of California have spoken yet again, but that doesn’t mean anything to radical groups that want to impose their will at all costs. Once again, they are attempting to use the courts to push their agenda since they can’t achieve it legitimately at the ballot box.”

Lavy said the argument offered by opponents to the initiative is without merit. “The lawsuit is completely frivolous,” he said. “No structural revision to the state constitution has taken place here. The people have simply restored the definition of marriage that the constitution has always assumed.”

In the meantime, the No on 8 side refuses to concede defeat. In a statement issued yesterday morning, No on 8 executive committee members Geoff Kors and Kate Kendell said the election was too close to call: “We expect that there are more than 3 million and possibly as many as 4 million absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted.”

Backers of the proposition celebrated victory on Election Night, calling it “a great day for marriage.” Said ProtectMarriage.com chairman Ron Prentice, “The people of California stood up for traditional marriage and reclaimed this great institution. We are gratified that voters chose to protect traditional marriage and to enshrine its importance in the state constitution. We trust that this decision will be respected by all Californians.”

© California Catholic Daily 2008. All Rights Reserved.