If you are a California citizen, please act immediately to sign this petition to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who is urging the California Supreme Court to overthrow the results of the recent free and fair election which passed Proposition 8, defining marriage as between a man and a woman. His actions as governor in attempting to negate this vote are an insult to the voters of California and undermine the rule of law. We will deliver this letter with your signatures to his office as a means of saying that the voices of the voters should neither be disregarded, nor silenced.
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,Since election day, you have made comments urging the California Supreme Court to overturn the citizens' will in passing Proposition 8 in California defining marriage as between a man and a woman. This was passed after a rigorous election process by a healthy margin of 52% to 48%.
You have recommended that the state Supreme Court declare the initiative unconstitutional and said, "The important thing now is to resolve this issue." The election passing Proposition 8 did resolve the issue, according to the most basic tenet of our free society, which is based on the "consent of the governed."
When Thomas Jefferson put that language about "consent of the governed" in the Declaration of Independence, it was not just a nice-sounding phrase, but the keystone of the Declaration and, indeed, the entire revolution. It captured the fundamental reason the colonists had decided to leave the British Commonwealth, and why they were willing, as the Declaration put it, to "pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor" to the cause of independence. The hallmark and foundation of this country is the "consent of the governed."
James Wilson of New Jersey, who signed both the Declaration and the Constitution, wrote that "the only reason why a free and independent man was bound by human laws was this - that he bound himself." In other words, he consented to be bound by them, because he participated in the process.
To try to overturn an election is an insult to voters and undermines the democratic process. As governor, it is your responsibility to support and defend the California constitution, which now reads that marriage is between a man and a woman and the foundation processes of our country that are based on "consent of the governed."
We urge you to:
● Publically accept the results of the ballot initiative as the will of the people
● Publically recant any suggestions that the California Supreme Court should overturn the voice of a free and fair election.
● Condemn the recent assaults upon the First Amendment rights of supporters of Proposition 8. We echo what the Protect Marriage coalition has said, "Amidst all this lawlessness, harassment, trampling of civil rights and now domestic terrorism, one thing stands out: the deafening silence of our elected officials. Not a single elected leader has spoken out against what is happening." We look to you to speak out against those who would silence free speech by targeting donors, disrupting church services and vandalizing property.
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10 comments:
You left one thing out: A civil right granted by the Supreme Court of California has been stripped away by a proposition based solely on lies and misinformation. People will no longer sit back and allow discrimination. Of course intimidation and Black-listing are wrong. Just as wrong as when the churches strong-armed members and large corporations to donate and vote for this bigoted proposition. The churches have a long history of boycotting.
People are hurt and angry. And for what? A proposition based on lies and fear-mongering. No one is threatening marriage or children, no one is attacking churches. It is the churches actively struggling to deny a group of Americans their civil and human rights. The churches are the aggressors here. (But can we pause for a moment to imagine what the "churches'" millions of dollars could have done for the poor in our country. What it could have meant to sick and hungry children living in poverty - if only their efforts followed their preachings. But they chose instead to promote hate and fear of an enemy that doesn’t exist.)
Please don't tell me "the people have spoken." If women's rights had been put up for men to vote on they would still be "property." If civil rights for African-Americans had been put on a ballot they would have advanced nowhere. Civil rights are not to be voted on. Human rights are not opinion. This is discrimination. It is unAmerican, unConstitutional. And NO ONE can yet explain how it is a threat to anyone else's marriage. How in the world does it have anything to do with someone else's religion? Everyone can hold to their beliefs and religious convictions, but you cannot force those beliefs on others - not in America. This is not about people exercising their religious convictions. This is about forcing those convictions on others! There can be no second-class Americans.
"We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." –Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
Jim - Thank you for voicing your opinion. There is one section I want to comment on.
And NO ONE can yet explain how it is a threat to anyone else's marriage. How in the world does it have anything to do with someone else's religion? Everyone can hold to their beliefs and religious convictions, but you cannot force those beliefs on others - not in America. This is not about people exercising their religious convictions. This is about forcing those convictions on others! There can be no second-class Americans.
First, marriage is not a right. It is not a civil right, a human right, a fundamental right, or any other kind of right you want to call it. Marriage is a contract granted by an institution. The institution granting the contract in this case is the state of California. The citizens of California are the ones who decide who can enter into that contract.
On the outside, it would seem that allowing same-sex couples to marry is fine. However, as we have already seen, those promoting the same-sex agenda are not simply seeking the right to be married.
As you have accused the "churches" of being intolerant and forcing their values on others, this, in fact, is what the same-sex couples are doing. For example:
1) eHarmony.com was sued for not matching same-sex couples.
2) Catholic adoption agency was forced out of business for not allowing same-sex couples to adopt.
Now who is forcing whose values on whom?
Jim - Here is a link to another blog post that you might find interesting. It relates forcing values on each other.
http://busywithconviction.wordpress.com/2008/11/12/forcing-ones-morals-on-others/
Heather - there is no gay agenda.
They seek equality under the law.
That's it.
California citizens do NOT decide. Our Constitution decides. And our Supreme Court interpreted that Constitution as granting the right to marry.
Jim - visit this blog and tell me there is no gay agenda.
http://beetlebabee.wordpress.com/2008/10/17/the-agenda/
Same sex couples have the same rights under the law as heterosexual couples. Look in the California code
The Supreme Court did not grant same sex couples the right to marry. The Supreme Court ruled that prop 22 was not constitutional because it was not presented as an amendment to the constitution but rather as a proposition. Mayor Newsom and others interpreted that ruling to mean same sex couples had the right to get married. But the reality was that they had no more or less rights than before prop 22.
Dear Lord!
What a crock!
Are you kidding me with that?
We are equal under God.
We should be equal under the law.
God bless ALL
Jim -
We are all equal under the law.
I agree, God bless EVERYONE.
:)
By the way, I was referring to that blog when I said crock - certainly not anything you wrote.
Hope I was clear on that.
God bless
Jim - Thank you for the clarification ;)
Jim, we are all equal under God...equally struggling against temptations. Homosexuals are born with tendencies, not mandates. They are not forced to practice a destructive lifestyle, they choose to. God has always been clear about marriage being between one man and one woman...exclusively.
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