To the No on 8 crowd

I have some advice for you- stop running to the courts.

Now, I don't say that to mean give up and stop trying; far from it. Rather, I would advise y'all to get out and educate and put up a positive ballot measure that would grant marriages. On election night, I was watching the local news and they interviewed one of the Yes on 8 campaign directors and he noted that not once have pro-gay marriage supporters gone out and sought approval from voters for that position. Instead, they've reacted to anti-gay marriage propositions and hauled them to court, and allowed the court to decide when the legislature and the people should decide. The legislature already set-up domestic partnership laws, laws that the people of this state appeared to support. Prop 8 passed by 400,000 votes- I can imagine that a substantial part of that margin was made up of people who don't care one way or another, but simply were upset that the court forced this upon the public. The citizens of this state have now voted twice against gay marriage. . .Get before the public a pro-gay marriage amendment, and stop relying on the courts to force this down peoples' throats. The court was wrong on this decision- the court cannot usurp the vote of the people (or the legislature) and make new exceptions where none are evident. Only the people can and should make these decisions- and the pro-gay marriage advocates need to get them, and stop relying on the courts.

On the other hand...I am not at all surprised by these findings- "While Obama publicly backed the "No on Prop. 8" effort, African American voters had no trouble voting overwhelmingly for the man who will be the nation's first black president and then voting 70 percent in favor of Prop. 8, exit polls showed."

This same situation played itself out in Florida: "Barack Obama's candidacy likely played a role in the gay-marriage ban passing in Florida. Black voters turned out in droves and, according to exit polls, supported the amendment by the greatest margin -- 71 percent to 29 percent -- when compared to whites and Hispanics."

None of this should be at all surprising to Democrats and gay marriage advocates and foes. How so? In 2004, the voters of Ohio passed an amendment to the state constitution declaring that marriage shall be only between a man and woman. The vote total was 62% in favor and 38% opposed; yet, Bush won Ohio by 2%, or 120,000 votes. It should also be noted that Bush got a higher percentage of the black vote in Ohio, 16%, up from 9% in 2000, than he got nationwide, 10%. So, not only did Bush get a sizable percentage of the black vote in Ohio, enough to possibly have pushed him over the top, the black vote also accounted for the large support in Ohio for declaring marriage to be between a man and a woman. In other words, even though only winning the state by 2%, a proposition denying same-sex marriages passed by 24%. It seems obvious that that discrepancy was made up by black voters.

As I began this posting above- those in favor of same-sex marriages need to come out and make a positive ballot proposition, and stop running to the courts to stop "the people." Give the people something positive to respond to on this matter, and they will come around. The courts should not be used to effect social change; that responsibility is up to the people. I know that some people look back longingly to the excesses of the Warren Court, but those days are long gone. Move on.