Marriage Prop Opponents Talk the Talk, Don't Walk the Walk, on Equality and Tolerance

According to a posting by "mcjoan" today on DK, the constitutional initiatives to "define marriage as between one man and one woman legislatively" in Arizona and California are all about "discrimination". From this viewpoint, the author perceives the "innocuous sounding Center for Arizona Policy" as "bullying the House and Senate of Arizona" into considering the measure. Then, the elected representatives of Arizona's citizens were apparently coerced into passing it: "the Senate capitulated to CAP . . . , putting it on next month's ballot as Proposition 102." Yet this same legislature previously passed a "statutory ban" on same-sex marriages.

The article also points out that the Presidential campaign and California's Prop 8 have diverted funding and attention from Arizona's Prop 102. Believe it or not, I agree with "mcjoan" that Prop 8 "should be higher profile".

From my observations as a resident of southern California, however, the "No on 8" crowd isn't about equality or tolerance at all:

• A California court legislated from the bench to create a "right" for homosexuals to marry. This legal decision by four judges in San Francisco overturned Proposition 22, which was supported by 61% of California's voters at the polls in 2000. Given this example of liberals' penchant for using the activist bench to overturn the results of a free and fair vote, Arizona is right to prevent its own legislation from being similarly invalidated by activist judges.
  
  
  
• Before any Californian could even consider Proposition 8, Attorney General Jerry Brown, a long-time liberal California Democrat, abused the authority of his office by changing the wording of the initiative's title.
• In an infamous speech, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom shouted that Californians will be forced to accept homosexual marriage, "whether you like it or not."

• Despite the "No on 8" crowd's assertion that gay marriage would not be taught in schools, first-graders in San Francisco were recently taken on a school field trip to attend their teacher's wedding to her same-sex partner. At a Sacramento public charter school tomorrow, students will be forced to participate in a celebration of "Coming Out Day" without prior official notification of their parents by the school. As it currently stands, California law would mandate such "education".

• "No on 8" supporters are using theft and intimidation as tactics to subvert the democratic process. Sadly, news stories about such incidents are becoming routine in California. A "Yes on 8" volunteer was physically attacked by a "No on 8" supporter who was distributing campaign yard signs. These same yard signs have been routinely stolen shortly after being set up, despite the fact that this is a crime that carries a $1000 fine in California. Well beyond this behavior, which is apparently considered "routine" by police, are acts of vandalism and graffiti slurs against Prop 8 supporters.

Whenever conservatives work through the established political process to stand up for their social beliefs, it's invariably seen as skullduggery by liberals. This paranoia appears to be the left wing's a priori assumption about conservatives. However, left-wingers are characteristically blind to their own tactics, especially when they take a turn down the political low road.

In Response To: Equality in Arizona

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