Govenor Schwarzenegger and Mayor Sanders: Will They Cave to Political Expediency or Step Up to Protect our Constitutional Democracy?

by Dae Elliott

Update - Govenor Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill even though over 15,000 signatures were submitted to him Equality California in support of marriage equality.

Update - Thank Mayor Sanders for his courage and candor in deciding to sign the "Friend of the Court" in support of marriage equality!

September 18, 2007 - San Diego City Council passed Toni Atkins' move to sign on as a "Friend of the Court" in support of marriage equality. Council President Scott Peters, and members Ben Hueso and Jim Madaffer joined Toni Atkins and Donna Frye in support. Over 3 hours of hearing from constituents can be listened to here.

Arguments against, more often then not, referred to religious beliefs. Misinformation about the history of marriage and many stereotypical and inaccurate statements about LGBT community were brought forward as the reason to vote no on this measure. It was obvious that the side against marriage equality had little scientific evidence to show that allowing same sex couples to marry would cause irreparable harm to the community - which is the only exclusion to fair and equal application of the U.S. law. Over and over again, it came back to their belief that it was immoral and many of the arguments mimicked the arguments given against interracial marriage in the past. One even argued that the right to have laws that represented their beliefs by keeping same sex marriage illegal was "freedom of religion". This should worry all of us who know our history, as well as the context and rationale for so much of the sectarian violence we see in the world today.

Those that voted against this measure did not offer any explanation and the Mayor's office has offerred the same rhetoric as the Governor's office as explanation for their upcoming veto of the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act , i.e. that Proposition 22 passed 7 years ago. Mayor Sanders plans on vetoing this and sending it back for an over-ride vote which will hopefully pass in time for San Diego to forward since the deadline is looming.

That both our Governor's and our Mayor's threatened vetoes suggest that they do not understand the protections for minorities written into the Constitution or perhaps choose to ignore those protections for political expediency is also sobering. In both cases, they could clarify that support of marriage equality is about equal application and protection under the law and not about imposing their religious beliefs onto those that don't hold the same. They could identify that there has been no scientific evidence that allowing same-sex marriage negatively impacts our society's functioning anymore than allowing interracial marriage "destroyed the very fabric of our society", and it most definitely does not limit those that believe otherwise to live their lives according to their own strictures OR they could identify what irreparable harm will be done to society by equal application of the rights given in civil marriage. I would hope that our leaders have the character, courage and conviction to abide by our constitutional democracy's protection of equal application of the law as the glue that holds our diverse and complex society together and explain themselves adequately.

I was very impressed that Ben Hueso did understand that and did show the character, courage and conviction that all of our leaders should be showing. I had to respect Donna Frye for her conviction in requiring due process of governance in this issue even though I disagreed, as well as Toni Atkins, Scott Peters and Jim Madaffer for showing their leadership. We all should call their offices and thank them for this and perhaps ask those that did not vote for this measure to explain their position better than hiding behind Proposition 22's outcome as a convenient and idealized excuse for their political expediency overshadowing their commitment to due diligence, upholding our Constitution, or perhaps at least explain why they believe their personal religious convictions outranks our founding fathers' protections against the tyranny of theocratic government.

Email Mayor Sanders

Email Govenor Schwarzenegger