Since beginning this blog, neither Colter nor I have written intensely political blog entries…or long ones. However, this year there is on the California ballot an issue in which I believe so strongly that I feel I simply must blog about it. The issue is Proposition 8, which, if it passes, will amend the California constitution to recognize as legal only marriages between a man and a woman. I am in favor of Proposition 8. I believe that if it is defeated in the election it will terribly erode the liberty we enjoy in this country and it will set the state of California on a path to destruction of its society.
You may wonder why I believe that a yes vote on Proposition 8 will preserve our freedom. After all, it restricts homosexual couples from marrying. Isn’t that restricting their freedom? The answer is yes, it is a restriction; but it is the same kind of restriction a childproofing cover provides—restricting the freedom of a small child from sticking its fingers into an electric socket. You see, I believe that only a man and a woman are meant to live together in a marriage relationship. Physically, emotionally, mentally, they complement each other and are meant to be teammates through the bonds of marriage. I believe this is a natural law—as real as gravity. One cannot deny natural laws without suffering unhappy consequences. Similarly one cannot deny natural moral laws without having people and society suffer in the long run.
By the same token, one cannot create natural laws—or rights. The only way one can create a right for one person is to take it from another. That is what will happen if Proposition 8 is defeated and homosexual marriage is legalized in California. For example, adoption agencies run by groups who do not believe in gay marriage will be forced to either let homosexual couples adopt or shut down their services entirely. This has already happened in Massachusetts, the only other state in the United States which has legalized gay marriage. Such a move takes away not only the right of such groups to operate according to their beliefs, it takes away the rights of the children to be raised by a father and a mother.
The right of children to be raised by both a mother and a father is an important point. Only children raised in such an environment can truly learn about gender identity. Only by understanding how gender identity shapes each individual can each boy and girl come to understand his or her own unique identity.
Voting in favor of Proposition 8 also preserves our freedom in that it sets the decision regarding legalization of gay marriage back in the hands of the people of California. In 2000, California voters chose to pass Proposition 22. Proposition 22 did not amend the California constitution; but it stated in California law that only marriage between a man and a woman would be legal in California. The measure passed by a margin of 61% to 38%. This past April four judges in the 9th Circuit Court ruled Proposition 22 unconstitutional, using the power of the judiciary to legalize gay marriage in opposition to the will of the people. In this country, the people are to make the laws, either through a ballot vote, as they did with Proposition 22 or through their legislative representatives in state or national Congress. If the people of California had voted to legalize gay marriage, or if they do so in the future, I would be saddened, but at least I would know the law had been made through the proper channels. To have the judges making the laws in the land goes against the principles on which this country is founded: the right of the people to govern themselves.
I know that same-sex attraction is real. Each of us in this world struggles with some trait. For some, it is the temptation to fly into a temper at the slightest provocation. For others, it is a tendency toward alcoholism or drugs. And some find themselves experiencing romantic feelings towards members of the same sex. I believe each man and woman is ultimately happier when they master their weaknesses than when they give in to them.
For all the reasons I have mentioned above, I urge all Californians to vote Yes on Proposition 8 this November 4.
