Gay groups ask court to strike marriage discrimination ban from ballot
Gay-rights advocates asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to remove a proposed state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage from the November ballot, saying it would destroy fundamental rights that cannot be legally altered by a voter initiative.
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In papers filed four days after the legalized same-sex weddings began around the state, advocacy groups argued that the measure would change the state’s Constitution so profoundly that it would amount to a revision. Under the law, the Constitution cannot be revised by initiative alone – a two-thirds legislative approval is also needed before the measure goes to the voters.
“If enacted, (the November initiative) would eviscerate the principle of equal citizenship for gay and lesbian people and strip the courts of their authority to enforce basic constitutional guarantees,” said Stephen Bomse, lawyer for the groups.
He said the measure would “destabilize our Constitution and our basic government plan … by establishing that any group may be deprived of equal protection and fundamental rights through a simple majority vote.”
The lawsuit also contends that the initiative petitions circulated to voters before the court ruling were misleading because they declared that the measure would make no change in the marriage laws and would have no fiscal impact.
The advocacy groups, led by Equality California, asked the court to declare the initiative unconstitutional and strike it from the ballot, an action the justices seldom take before an election. Backers of the measure quickly denounced the suit.
Do they have a legal point? It seems like they might. Considering the fact that the California Supreme Court’s decision was, in large part, based on an understanding of equal protection that takes reality into account, and that the current California constitution actually DOES guarantee equality for all citizens, even ones the Christian Right doesn’t like…
Of course, if the court accepts this argument, we’ll be hearing a bunch of moo-ing from the anti-gay groups, but whatever. If their legal challenges EVER had any merit, they’d be taken more seriously. As it is, they’re becoming a caricature of themselves.
