Politcs: Proposition 8

 Article Link:
 http://www.dallasvoice.com/viewers-guide-proposition-8-arguments-1054724.html

Proposition 8, also known as the California Marriage Protection Act was a proposition and amendment to the constitution in the November 2008 state elections in California.  The exact provision is that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California”.  This overturned the California Supreme Court’s original ruling that same sex couples were recognized in marriage.  Many protests were done after the proposition was passed and those especially of high school and college age were upset and spoke out against it. 

I know that this really affected me and my friends from California and Washington.  We could not believe that our supposedly liberal state could pass a proposition like this.  Recently, on August 4, 2010 the United States district court overturned Proposition 8 .  Now on December 6th, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments for the appeal of Proposition 8.  The issue has obviously stirred a lot of unrest from American citizens and caused a lot of debates and arguments of the constitutionality of the proposition.  This issue has also attracted a lot of media attention which can only be good for proponents of GLBT rights.  This one issue has helped other issues move to the forefront of media attention which can give hope for people giving their attention to increasing GLBT rights.  We can only hope that the proposition will be overturned and same sex couples will once again have the right to marry in California.  I hope with time, other states will continue that trend and not go backwards like California has.

-Denise Stanton