YES on Prop 8

Since the middle of the summer, I have been actively involved in helping with the prop 8 efforts. I made over one hundred phone calls, I knocked doors, and now that I am up here in Idaho, I have joined facebook groups, posted notes, and I am blogging about it. My dad wrote an article for the local newspaper at home and it has been distributed to various blogs and facebook pages and through emails. Here are a few resources to look at when deciding how to vote on this monumental decision: http://preservingmarriage.blogspot.com/ http://www.preservingmarriage.org/ We are not against same-sex couples, and we do not hate them, disrespect them, or look down upon those who practice this lifestyle, we are simply defending marriage and what it is really about; a man and a woman creating a family together. This is what my dad has to say about Proposition 8: During the recent vice presidential debate, both Joe Biden and Sarah Palin declared their support of equal rights for gays and lesbians but opposition to same-sex marriage. Last summer, four justices of the California Supreme Court decided that equal rights required same-sex-marriage. Proposition 8 on the November ballot allows Californians to choose between the position taken by Biden/Palin and the Court. This issue is not about sex, money or hate. Consenting adults share physical intimacies without fear of violating the law. Civil unions, legal in California, provide same-sex couples with economic advantages enjoyed by heterosexual couples. Those supporting gay marriage do not hate those opposing it any more than those opposing it hate those supporting it. This issue is about defining “equal” in equal rights. In an effort to grant rights to some, there is a danger of denying rights to others. In Canada and Sweden, it is a crime, “hate speech,” for ministers to read specific Bible passages or teach that God condemns homosexuality. A private Methodist pavilion in New Jersey lost its tax-exempt status because it refused to celebrate a same-sex civil union on its premises. The Catholic Charities in Boston closed their doors rather than implement a government order that the Charities facilitate adoptions by same-sex couples. Senator Biden and Governor Palin know that limiting speech, closing religious organizations, and economically penalizing those who reject same-sex marriage are not required to insure “equal rights.” Justice, the foundation of true equal rights, requires that each person’s beliefs be treated the same. The equal rights of speech, assembly and association guaranteed in the First Amendment provide a level field upon which important differences of belief and opinion can compete. This is too important an issue to let four people decide. Voting “Yes” on Proposition 8 puts things back as they were before the California Supreme Court redefined marriage. Undoing the Court’s rash decision will allow further consideration and discussion so that future actions do not unequally benefit some at the expense of others. I have strong personal opinions on the subject of same-sex marriage. Many on both sides of the issue do. That is not the point. The question facing us is how to accommodate persons of differing beliefs so that the rights of all are equally protected. Voting “Yes” on Proposition 8 allows this debate to continue without forcing a premature, one-sided and unequal end to the discussion.