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Less About Marriage, More About Equality |
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Voice in the Cheap Seats
By Charles Tarlow
Since when are we against equality?
Proposition 8, the anti gay marriage law, passed and I have to admit I was surprised.
Sure the proponents tried to scare people into believing that our children would be taught gay sex in public schools and that the very fabric of American life would be destroyed if gay people were allowed to marry ... but those tactics were used the last time and failed. I was sure Californians were still too smart to believe that nonsense.
Sadly, I was wrong.
Now, unless this new law is overturned, a significant segment of our community will be discriminated against simply because they are different from the majority.
The issue IS less about marriage than it is about equality. Laws are supposed to be blind to race, religion, and sexual preference. Everyone is supposed to be equal under the law. This is the very foundation of our legal system and our constitution.
The folks who wrote Proposition 8 seem to have forgotten this. They are so offended by people who are different from them, who choose to live their lives in a manner of which they do not approve, that they have written their prejudices into law and sold that law to the public with lies and fear.
Now ... here we are … some folks can get married, but others can't ... based on sexual preference.
So what is all the fuss and feathers about marriage? What is marriage? Well ... it's a contract. Actually, it's two contracts. One is a contract with God (the church or mosque or temple ... i.e. organized religion). The other is a contract with the State of California. Neither entity recognizes the other as authorized to perform a legitimate marriage. As anyone who has gotten married in California knows, we have to sign two contracts to make both the State and God happy.
From a legal point of view, the only contract that matters is the State of California's contract. It gives the married couple their rights and liabilities.
The religious document is only to satisfy ones personal faith ... be it Jewish, Catholic, Buddhist, or whatever. There is no reason why the California contract has to be called a marriage contract at all. It could, as suggested by many, be called a civil union contract and still bestow all the rights and liabilities to the participants. And it is within this concept that a possible solution to all the marriage angst may be found.
The problem with Proposition 8 is that we are not all equal under the law. It takes away the ability of gay people to marry. Just as the Nazis arbitrarily singled out Jews for “special treatment”, Prop 8 singles out gay and lesbian people for special treatment. This is un-American and unconstitutional and will, I believe, eventually be struck down.
In the meantime, consider this; there is a way to successfully address this emotionally charged issue without violating anybody's rights. Take the State out of the marriage business. Give California the authority over civil unions only. If you are gay or straight or black or white or brown or red, green or yellow ... you can apply for a civil union with the State. If you want to get “married”, apply to your religious entity of choice. Taking the State out of the marriage business and into the contract law business separates church and state ... and those who would codify their prejudices into law from those who would be happy to just be equal under the law. (Charles Tarlow is a Los Angeles citizen and a neighborhood voice. He can be reached at
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CityWatch
Vol 6 Issue 92
Pub: Nov 14, 2008
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