ONE day after Barack Obama boldly included gay Americans in his inclusivity victory speech, bigots in California – led in the main by religious groups – voted to overturn the state’s recently decision to allow gay marriage.
Proposition 8, the voter initiative ballot aimed at making a constitutional change that would effectively ban gay marriage in the state – defining marriage as an act of union between a man and woman – has been was approved by voters.
With 99.7% of votes counted, 5,376,424 (52.5%) voted in favour of the proposition. 4,870,010 (47.5%) voted against. Between three and four million postal and absentee ballots have reportedly not been counted as yet.
Pink News reports today that around 650 protesters gathered in the state capital, Sacramento, to protest against Propostion 8, and the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Centre for Lesbian Rights filed a writ petition before the California Supreme Court urging the court to invalidate it.
The petition charges that Proposition 8 is invalid because the initiative process was improperly used in an attempt to undo the constitution’s core commitment to equality for everyone by eliminating a fundamental right from just one group – lesbian and gay Californians.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Equality California and 6 same-sex couples who did not marry before Tuesday’s election but would like to be able to marry now.
The groups said they are confident that the state will continue to honour the marriages of the 18,000 lesbian and gay couples who have already married in California.
Cardinal Sean Brady, sticking his nose in where it doesn't belong
Meanwhile, it is reported from Ireland that the Roman Catholic Church may support a legal challenge to new legislation that aims to give gay and lesbian couples the right to civil partnerships.
Cardinal Sean Brady, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, said that as “marriage and the family are of public interest,” it was appropriate for the Church to intervene.
He accused the Irish government of “the introduction of de facto ‘marriage’ for cohabiting and same-sex couples.”
In June Ireland’s Justice minister published a draft bill that will grant rights to gay and lesbian couples legal recognition in areas such as pensions, social security, property rights, tax, succession and the payment of maintenance.
Said Cardinal O’Brady:
Some might argue that it is in fact a breach of the Government’s Constitutional duty to protect the institution of marriage.
The bigot added that marriage is:
Fundamental to the public good and entitled to special consideration and care from the State. Other relationships, whether they are sexual or not, are the result of private interest. They do not have the same fundamental relationship to the good of society and to the bringing up of children as the family based on marriage.
According to Pink News, MarriagEquality, a group formed to campaign for full civil marriage, said in a statement:
The comments by Cardinal Sean Brady continue to stigmatise the children raised by gay mums and dads and underlines that he is out of touch with modern Ireland.
All adults and children are entitled to equality regardless of their sexuality or the sexuality of their parents, this however is not the case and must change.
It is high time that the lesbian and gay family unit, including children, are recognised and protected in Ireland.
Gay Senator David Norris accused the Cardinal of allying himself with Robert Mugabe and Ian Paisley.
Will the Deputy Leader reassure the House of the progress of the Civil Partnership Bill in the light of the very strong comments by Cardinal Seán Brady? I found it a strange priority for the archdiocese of Armagh, when it only has seven seminarians and 130 priests for 200,000 people, to take on the disadvantaged in a manner which, sadly, can only further alienate young people from the church.
The reports of his comments on RTE showed an arrogant, threatening and legalistic tone as the cardinal allied himself with Karl Rove, George Bush, Robert Mugabe and Ian Paisley.
It horrifies me that the leader of a church should seek to stamp his mark on such discrimination and inequality. I very much regret that I am forced to raise this issue. I thought we had put it behind us.
Why are we dragged back into the 19th century in this shameful and disgraceful way?
A recent poll found that 84 percent of Irish people support either gay marriage or civil partnerships.
As part of the UK, civil partnerships for lesbian and gay couples have been legal in Northern Ireland since December 2005.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
November 6th, 2008 at 11:53 am
First Father Ted, now gay marriage. Go Erin! Or whatever the correct term is. Tell the Pope and his minions to sod off. They had their chance and they blew it – along with numerous choirboys.
November 6th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Go Valdemar!
November 6th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
P.S. It makes you wonder what the two guys in the photo are worried about.
November 6th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Before this election story is remembered as solely Obama = Inclusive & Bold and Prop 8 Supporters = Divisive & Bigots, it is worth remembering that many Obama voters, attracted to the polls by the appeal of his message, voted for the proposition. (See http://www.slate.com/id/2203912/ and elsewhere.) Leading Democratic politicians to their discredit have fled from the issue of gay marriage, and Obama’s words in his acceptance speech might have more “boldly” come before, not after, the election.
November 6th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Where the church is powerful the people are weakend.
The emotive term here being exploited is “marriage” Gay marriage – that horrible expression beloved of the Tabloids – it is not. The fundies seem to forget that legal processes and rights upon which Civil Partnerships are based are the same as those enjoyed in man-woman unions. The religious nutters don’t want to give equal legal status to all people because the fundies want to keep some of us as second class citizens: easier to bash us if we are unprotected law. The Proposition 8 debacle in California is a retrograde step in terms of human rights and common decency; what next, homosexuality to made illegal?
Er…… and were not people getting ‘married’ long before the churches hijacked the proceedings to make money and add their prejudice.
November 6th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Sorry to post again but word ‘by’ is missing between unprotected and law.
And……Hasn’t Obama a preacher friend at his local church by the name of Rev Jeremiah Wright? The same preacher who believes ‘the white man’ introduced AIDS to kill blacks and that the Twin Towers attacks were caused by Americas tolerance of homosexuals, abortion, [insert brand of bigotry here ad infinitum]
November 6th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Hello Angela! Yes, Obama is not your ideal atheist/humanist, but who would expect one to get elected in the USA? Unfortunately, America is where Western Europe was about 50 years ago, re: faith. You have to be a churchgoer (templegoer, whatever) to be considered a good citizen by millions of voters. Here in the UK nobody gives a toss, and indeed religiosity is regarded as a bit weird. As of course it is.
November 8th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Valdemar you are so right. I live in Europe and when the Pres.or PM and MPs come up for election ,nobody gives a damn which sky daddy one believes in or doesn’t, the question is not asked also the wives and family menbers are not attacked. Religion sucks