Why Equal Marriage Rights matter.

September 19, 2007 by Pastor Dan.

Last night several hundred of us marched in Hollywood from the Gay & Lesbian center on Schrader to the sidewalk star for Arnold Schwarzenegger, to urge him to sign AB 43, the “Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act.” This piece of legislation, which has now passed the California legislature in two successive terms, would grant equal marriage rights to same-sex couples while guaranteeing religious freedom (for those faith groups who do not want to solemnize the relationship of a same-sex couple).

The Governor has already indicated that he will veto the legislation again (see: September 14 blog), and again and again if necessary. His conviction, if you can call it that, is that only “the people” can decide whether same-sex marriage should be legal. Apparently, he feels that the legislative and judicial branches of government should have no say in matters of justice.

Who are “the people” who should have a say? Highly visible last night were at least a dozen clergy, myself included, other leaders, and same-sex couples. The people most affected by the current legal restrictions on marriage were present in Hollywood, and in more than a dozen other locations around California.

Schwarzenegger, however, believes that the people of California spoke when it adopted Proposition 22 (the Knight Initiative) in 2000. The name Knight has stuck to it because the late state senator William “Pete” Knight authored it, and pushed it through to prevent California from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states such as Massachusetts, all the while estranged from his own gay son. Schwarzenegger, the former body builder and former actor, thinks he is qualified as a legal expert to interpret Prop 22 as blocking the possibility of AB 43 —something which the judicial branch should really settle.

Also present last night were the Center’s Executive Director Lori Jean, State Senator and AB 43 co-author Lloyd Levine, who spoke in favor of the legislation.

In actuality, Schwarzenegger is parroting what advisors tell him he should say to deflect equal marriage rights. But who are his friends anyway, since he has alienated both the Democratic majority of voters and legislators in the state, and the shrinking Republican minority as well. The Governor could go down in history as the one who opened the door for equal marriage rights, but as West Hollywood Mayor Hon. John Duran noted last night at the rally, it is more likely Schwarzenegger will become “Footnote 3″ in California after former governors George and Pete.

The nay-sayers claim that same-sex marriage rights will destroy marriage, western civilization, and the world. Yes, I’ve read arguments that far-fetched. One of the supporters last night said that no other group working for civil rights has ever had to secure their rights at the ballot box. Although an uphill struggle for many—and most prominently for African-American civil rights—those rights have come overwhelmingly when a court recognized the core justice issues and declared laws which restricted the rights invalid under the constitution.

My own opinion is that when rights are extended to more people, it doesn’t destroy or take away rights from those who already have them. But when rights are kept away or taken away from a minority group of people, there is a chilling effect, and all other people may be harmed because it becomes easier to take away civil rights, in increments, from all. Witness the dirty work of the 2001 USA Patriot Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 [Public Law 107-56]).

For example, when the slaves in this country were emancipated by President Lincoln, it did not enslave or diminish the freedom of free people.

The best case in point would probably be the Nazi era in Germany, as the Third Reich repeatedly took away rights and freedoms from Jewish people, one by one. As they became more and more restricted in society, it became easier for the people in power and the “white” people to disregard them as a class, and finally, as human beings. The last right to go was the right to live, and six million Jews were summarily murdered by the government.

The major opponents in California to equal marriage rights not only want to make them permanently unattainable for same-sex couples, but also to take away the Domestic Partnership rights which we have had in this state since 1999. As we speak, they are trying to push this onto the ballot for 2009 as a Constitutional measure! It may be this last gesture which reveals a motivation not to protect traditional marriage but to permanently write prejudice into the highest law of the state.

Write the Governor today, and urge him to sign AB 43! Right Now:

Call him at (916) 445-2841 or send him an email at: http://gov.ca.gov/interact and select “gender neutral marriage bill” from the drop down subject box.

—Pastor Dan Hooper, Los Angeles

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