California will try to enshrine right to same-sex marriage
>> California, a U.S. trendsetter for progressive policies and a state where the current governor once made news issuing marriage licenses to samesex couples in San Francisco before it was legal, will attempt to enshrine marriage equality in the state constitution.
The effort comes 15 years after a voter-ap- proved initiative, Propo- sition 8, banned the state from recognizing samesex marriages. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for samesex marriage in California.
The constitutional amendment is still on the books, however, and that worries advocates who think the high court may revisit the 2015 case that legalized gay marriage nationwide.
“It’s absolute poison, it is so destructive and it’s humiliating that this is in our constitution,” said Scott Wiener, a state senator who represents San Francisco.
Wiener and Assembly Member Evan Low of Silicon Valley, both Democrats and members of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, introduced legislation Tuesday to rescind Proposition 8. The measure would need to be approved in the Legislature by a two-thirds vote, and then it will ultimately fall to voters to decide via a referendum.
In the days leading up to Proposition 8’s approval, Low joined opponents of the measure outside his alma mater De Anza College in Cupertino, California, to call on voters to reject the initiative. When it passed, it felt personal to Low, who is gay.
“Why do fellow Californians hate me?” he said. “Why do they feel that my rights should be eliminated?”