I suppose it’s appropriate that on All Hallow’s Eve the news seems scarier than usual. I’m going to focus on the U.S. election this week because that’s what I’m focused on, other than wondering how to get my son down from his sugar high tonight.
Here are some selected articles about the anti-equality Props:
- The LA Times reports on what would happen to currently married same-sex couples if Prop 8 passes. Short answer: legal chaos. They remind us that California’s attorney general has opined, “Proposition 8 would not be retroactive and that existing marriages would stand. But his view is likely to be challenged.” Even if existing same-sex married couples are allowed to remain married, think about what this would mean to the LGBT community, split into two parts with different rights.
- The LA Times also notes the deliberate confusion generated by Prop 8 supporters on the grounds that “all kids ought to be raised in straight households with their heterosexual mothers and fathers.” That has nothing to do with marriage of same-sex couples, they say: “Gay and lesbian people still are entitled to adopt, to receive health care, to use public spaces. They were entitled to that before the state Supreme Court ruling, and they’ll be entitled to it after the Tuesday election, unless the next goal of the anti-gay coalition is to deprive them constitutionally of those rights as well,” as it is in Arkansas.
- Parents whose children were photographed during a school field trip to their lesbian teacher’s wedding are angry that Yes on Prop 8 is using their children’s images in Prop 8 propaganda. Yes On 8 leaders have refused to speak with them.
- Timothy Kincaid of Box Turtle Bulletin quotes Douglas NeJaime, the Sears Law Teaching Fellow at the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, who explains why the claims by Yes on 8 about schools having to teach about marriage equality are false.
- John Koch at HuffPo writes about Prop 8 and “How My Lesbian Boss Makes Me a Better Father.” (Hint: She’s a mom.)
- The Florida Sun-Sentinel says that black turnout in support of Barack Obama could also mean more support for Proposition 2, since black voters are more likely to back that measure. Sikivu Hutchinson at AlterNet, however, explains “Why African Americans Should Oppose California’s Proposition 8.” Presumably his argument extends to all the anti-equality props. Samuel Jackson, who narrates a new No On 8 video ad, would likely agree.
- Deb Price explains how marriage equality is spreading throughout the Northeast. Think fall foliage, but in lavender.
- Joshua Holland explains “Why Straight People Need to Get into the Fight for Marriage Equality.” He asserts, “Ultimately, the issue comes down to a simple question: Do you want to live in a country in which every citizen enjoys equal protection under the law, or don’t you?”
- The marriage equality battle rumbles on even in Massachusetts, where this week the anti-LGBT group MassResistance failed to collect enough signatures to place a referendum on the 2010 ballot to reinstate the 1913 law preventing out-of-state couples from marrying in the Bay State if their home states forbid their unions.
- Lest we forget, there are Republicans Against Prop 8, too. In fact, the group of that name “has released a new video ad highlighting the opposition of Republican California Governors Reagan and Schwarzenegger to anti-gay initiatives.”
- Finally, Andy Towle of Towleroad has a more extensive list of Prop 8 links, for those with the time and inclination.