Effort to excise California same-sex marriage ban heats up

[RandySF]

With the start of Pride Month has come a concerted effort to see that the homophobic legacy of the 2008 same-sex marriage ban Proposition 8 be fully erased from the California Constitution. From state lawmakers to local elected officials, there has been a groundswell of support in recent days behind repealing Prop 8's "zombie language" from state statutes.

Narrowly adopted by voters in 2008, Prop 8 defined marriage as being between a man and a woman under California law. It was later found to be unconstitutional by federal courts, paving the way for same-sex marriages to resume in the Golden State in June 2013. Two years later the U.S. Supreme Court established marriage equality as a federal right with its Obergefell v. Hodges decision released during Pride Month of 2015.

Despite those legal rulings there is concern among LGBTQ advocates that the current conservative majority on the court could rescind Obergefell akin to its ending a federal right to abortion last June. Under such a scenario, the fear is that Prop 8's language would once again become law and bar same-sex couples from getting married in California.

To avoid that from happening, gay Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Cupertino) earlier this year introduced Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5, which would excise Prop 8's language from the state's governing document. On June 5, Low gathered with several of his legislative colleagues on the West Steps of the California State Capitol to announce ACA 5's actual language that would appear on the November 2024 general election ballot.

Last week, Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis asked supporters of her 2026 gubernatorial campaign to sign up as citizen sponsors of ACA 5 on a website she launched June 7. Kounalakis is a co-sponsor of it herself.




https://www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=news&sc=news&id=326129

[Hekate]

1. People are right to be concerned about zombie laws, because a lot of what we're dealing with...

…on abortion right now is all the anti-abortion laws going back as far as 1850, just lying there like a rake hidden in the grass.

Old shit has to be flushed away for the civic health of our nation, if you’ll pardon the scatology.

[SunSeeker]

2. Good. Prop. "H8" was a low point on an otherwise victorious night in 2008. nt

[RandySF]

3. That was a stunner.

When 8:00 p.m. rolled around, we celebrated Obama's election. A few hours later, Prop 8 was passed.

[SunSeeker]

4. Yup. Tons of dark money was poured in getting it passed.

And, funny thing, nobody who gave money wanted their names revealed. The shit they said to get it passed was truly disgusting. Pure hate and stupidity.

[LoisB]

5. I still have my "Legalize Gay: Repeal Prop. 8 Now" sweatshirt from years ago. I guess I should

start wearing it again.

[NowISeetheLight]

6. Never Too Late

Get rid of it now... or it may come around again if SCOTUS changes something. Look at Wisconsin and the 1849 Abortion Ban law that is now the law up there.

[Fiendish Thingy]

7. Why does it have to be a referendum?

Why can’t the legislature just pass an amendment themselves?

[Igel]

8. That would make a constitutional amendment just another law.

I've never heard of a state (but I haven't looked at all 50 state constitutions) that didn't require the more complete democratic process of a referendum. Some pass with a simple majority, some have a greater majority necessary for passage.

This is especially annoying in TX which has a bloated constitution. For some reason, it was decided that all sorts of things usually handled by laws needed to be in the TX state constitution. That link has 297 PDF pages of text.