Nov 14, 2008  |  By: CHRIS JOHNSON  | COMMENTS     

The passage of Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage in California has sparked a national firestorm leading to protests in several cities where thousands of people have expressed their anger over the elimination of marriage rights in the Golden State.

After the measure passed last week, protesters came together Nov. 5 in West Hollywood, the gay neighborhood of Los Angeles, blocking traffic. Other protests followed there over the weekend and in San Diego and San Francisco.

More than 2,000 protesters also gathered in Salt Lake City on Nov. 7 to protest the Mormon church’s efforts in passing the initiative, which included an estimated $20 million in donations in support of the amendment.

Protests also were planned in New York City on Wednesday and in Washington on Saturday.
Robin Tyler, who with her partner, Diane Olson, was the first gay person married in Los Angeles, participated in several protests. She said she appreciated being able “to hug people that we’ve fought this battle for and finally being able to connect with our own people.”

“It was terrific to see our community acting like a civil rights movement,” she said.

But with the enthusiasm came anger directed toward the large percentage of black voters who supported the initiative, the Mormon church for supporting it and gay leaders who failed to stop the initiative from becoming part of the California Constitution.

As a result of the passage of Proposition 8, which was approved by 52 percent of state voters, city halls stopped issuing marriage licenses to gay couples Nov. 5 and the marriages of 18,000 gay couples have been put in legal jeopardy.

The Associated Press also reported that religious groups were “energized by a comeback win” and plan to employ the same tactics used in California to stop same-sex marriage from happening in New Jersey and New York, where the state legislatures are being lobbied to pass bills granting marriage rights to gay couples.

Petitions filed with Calif. Supreme Court

In the aftermath of Election Day, a number of organizations filed lawsuits against Prop 8 in an attempt to get the courts to reject the measure.

Attorneys for Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Clara County joined in filing a petition for a writ of mandate with the California Supreme Court to invalidate Prop 8.

Tyler and Olson filed their own lawsuit Nov. 5. The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed another petition with the high court Nov. 5.

For the petition from the activist organizations, opponents of Prop 8 argue that the measure is such a significant change to the state constitution that it should be considered a “revision” and not an “amendment,” thus requiring approval from two-thirds of the state legislature.

Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and a member of the “No on 8” executive committee, said the plaintiffs are “only asking that amendments that seek to deprive a suspect class of a fundamental right be put in that (revision) category — a category that is off-limits to popular vote.”

The lawsuit is similar to a petition that gay activist groups filed with the California Supreme Court in June in an attempt to keep Prop 8 off the ballot. The court denied the petition without offering an opinion on its merits.

Kendell said there was “no doubt that the chances of success on our claims is much, much stronger than pre-election.”

“Prop 8 creates a situation in California where anyone could put a measure on the ballot to eliminate fundamental rights of many, many groups,” she said. “There’s a lot of people who could engage in a lot of mischief that perverts the initiative process and really turns the constitution into a document no more significant than a comic book.”

Kendell she said expected the California Supreme Court would consolidate the three petitions into one lawsuit.

She noted the earliest time that justices could take up the lawsuit is next week, but her “best guess” for when the court would take up the matter is within three weeks.

She said it was “not advisable at this point” to file a federal lawsuit over Proposition 8 because the California Supreme Court already established constitutional protections for gay people and the U.S. Supreme Court “is not in that place.”

When asked about the possibility of calling a constitutional convention to eliminate Prop 8, Kendell said she didn’t know “technically if that would be right process or an advisable process.”

When asked if there were any plans to get another initiative on the ballot in 2010 that could eliminate Prop 8, ...