Van Boughner

The court has taken the easy way out. Instead of upholding the procedure for voter revision of California’s constitution (which involves the state legislature), the court has set a dangerous precident. The state’s constitution can now be substantially changed by a simple majority vote, and the rights of all minorities are endangered.

Do you hate illegal immigrants? No problem, get enough votes and you can limit their rights, perhaps even keep them from marrying residents of the state.

Are you a landlord and want to evict people different than you? No problem, you can amend those pesky equal rights clauses to allow landlords to be a little more discriminating.

What about dog lovers? Do you hate barking dogs? No problem, you can ban their owners from your town. Oh wait, dogs are pretty popular, certainly more popular than gay people, so better not try that. It pays to limit your hating to the traditional targets.

Well guess what, haters, your days are numbered. After a lot of work and expense last year, Proposition 8 supporters could only muster 52% of the vote. The longer this issue is discussed, the more people see and understand that gay relationships are substantially the same as straight ones. It will be hard to pull the wool over people’s eyes again in the next election.

This issue will be set right by a new proposition in 2010, one which allows gays to marry. But sadly, the damage done to our state constitution today will endure. No minority rights are really safe in California anymore.