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07/26/08-07/28/08

Prop. 8 Wording Change Good News for Opponents

Prop. 8 Wording Change Good News for Opponents

The California secretary of state has changed language in the ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage in California.

Proposition 8 would overturn the state's supreme court ruling that it is unconstitutional to deny same-sex couples in California the right to marry. The original wording of the November ballot initiative read, "[Proposition 8] amends the California Constitution to provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

The new language says that the initiative "Changes California Constitution to eliminate right of same-sex couples to marry." It further explains that banning gay marriage could prevent the state from gaining tens of millions of dollars in potential sales tax revenue.

Some activists think the language change, which spells out the removal of the right for same-sex couples to marry, could help to defeat the measure, according to Waymon Hudson at Bilerico.com. He notes that some polls have shown that changing the language to denote the removal of rights can add up to 10 percentage points to the "no" votes.

A Field Poll from July 18 shows that 51% of Californians are against the ban, 42% favor it, and 7% are undecided. Additionally, 63% of Democrats said they would vote against the ban, while 68% of Republicans said they would vote for it. The poll was the second consecutive study to show that a majority of Californians -- a very slim majority -- would vote for marriage equality. Those additional 10 points could only help. (The Advocate)

Keywords:  California marriage 
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Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

  • Name: Leo
    Date posted: 2008-07-29 3:04 PM
    Hometown: San Diego

    Comment:

    Legal same sex marriage is currently the State of California Constitution. If voter’s wanted to change it, Legally it must be clearly spelled out what the intent of “Prop 8” is. It is to take away the current legal marriage rights of same sex couples. The Attorney General is correct in clarifying the language for the voters No court is going to rule against the Attorney General and the Citizens of California.


  • Name: Joseph
    Date posted: 2008-07-28 3:17 PM
    Hometown: Montgomery, AL

    Comment:

    While this sounds like a good thing, couldn't this lead to further legal challenges since the Sec'y of State has taken it upon him/herself to CHANGE the wording? I wasn't aware that the Sec'y of State has such power to change ballot wording. I expect that the opponents of same-sex marriage who fought to put this initiative on the ballot will head to court to challenge the Secretary's decision since the Secretary's wording is NOT what the opposition wants.


  • Name: peter
    Date posted: 2008-07-26 12:29 AM
    Hometown: los angeles

    Comment:

    The rewording makes complete sense from a legal standpoint. First, because the California Supreme Court has determined that same-sex couples have a legal right to marriage under the state constitution, the ballot initiative must necessarily be worded to reflect that its passage would explicitly eliminate that right. The original language is vague and misleading, in particular the use of "provide" when the effect of the proposed amendment is clearly exclusionary. Second, the inclusion of the financial consequences of the amendment is consistent with the presentation of past unrelated ballot measures. Whenever a proposition's passage (or rejection) has a likely financial impact, both are mentioned in the language following the proposition itself. In a strong way, the CA Secretary of State is simply doing her job by ensuring the clarity and consistency of ballot measures, so as to prevent the electorate from being willfully misled on the actual intent and effects of propositions.


  • Name: Kevin
    Date posted: 2008-07-25 11:09 PM
    Hometown: Sacramento

    Comment:

    You go Debra Bowen....


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