Calif. Courts Deal Another 'Shocker' to Marriage
by Jody Brown
April 5, 2005
(AgapePress) - In California, advocates of traditional family values are incensed that an appeals court has determined that a new state law giving same-sex domestic "partners" the same rights as married couples does not violate the state's Defense of Marriage Initiative, which passed overwhelmingly five years ago.
In March 2000, 61 percent of voters in the Golden State approved Proposition 22, which states that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." But on Monday (April 4), the California Court of Appeal, Third District, handed down a 26-page ruling upholding a lower-court decision that stated a new domestic partner law did not violate that measure. The new law bestows upon registered domestic partners "the same rights, protections, benefits, responsibilities, obligations, and duties" as those given to married individuals.
And because the new law does not undermine the marriage initiative passed in 2000, the court said on Monday, separate voter approval is not mandatory. It is because of rulings like this, says Randy Thomasson of the Campaign for Children and Families, that "fed-up California voters" have no choice but to rise up and protect marriage from the "clutches of the bureaucracy." The only way to do that, he says, is through an amendment to the state constitution.
Randy Thomasson | |
"The people's will to protect marriage rights for a man and a woman must now override the judges and politicians," the Sacramento-based family activist stated at a news conference. "If the bureaucracy will empty marriage of all its value, the people must override the bureaucracy and protect marriage rights."Thomasson describes the domestic partners law -- proposed and passed by Democratic lawmakers -- as "gay marriage by another name," and accuses liberals of continuing their assault on the institution of marriage and on the states' voters.
"Judges and politicians who suck all the value out of marriage have trashed the people's vote and cheapened this sacred institution," the CCF president said. And he contends that back in March 2000, voters clearly understood that Prop. 22 dealt specifically with legal rights of marriage for a married man and woman.
"But now, since judges and Democratic politicians are blatantly attacking marriage and the voters, it's up to Californians to reiterate their support for marriage -- but this time by placing marriage protection in the state constitution," Thomasson adds.
San Diego activist James Hartline loudly echoes Thomasson's call for concerned voters to respond succinctly -- and quickly -- to Monday's ruling, which he calls a "slap in the face" of those who supported and voted for Proposition 22. Hartline accuses the courts and homosexual activists of a coordinated assault on traditional values.
"Activist judges, in partnership with the communist-like homosexual agenda, seek to create chaos in California's social fabric," Hartline says in a press statement. And those pushing the homosexual agenda, he says, "are coordinating a well-oiled attack against traditional family values" in California.
The former homosexual, who is now a Christian, encourages fellow believers to band together and vote out elected officials who promote "anti-Christian values." He maintains that once righteous leaders are in office, they would then appoint judges with similar values who will then "uphold the will of the people" -- including that marriage is between a man and a woman.
Hartline also offers an ominous warning: "If the Christians do not rise up and unite on this matter, then within one year same-sex marriage will be the law of the land in California."
