Proposition 8: Readers spoke out

Back in June, Letters to the Editor began tracking the mail we receive by subject.

In the six months since, reader reaction to Proposition 8 has dominated our mailbag, with thousands of readers registering their views. All told, we have received more than 2,300 letters on the gay marriage ban. The runner-up over those months was Sarah Palin, who inspired 1,800 letters. The economy came in third, bringing in just over 1,600 to our offices.

From ruminations on the initiative’s origins to exegeses on its legality, from heartfelt paeans to religion and traditional marriage from supporters to equally impassioned declarations on equality and love from detractors, Proposition 8 has provided some of the most intelligent, dramatic and entertaining mail we’ve been privileged to print this year.

Below, we’ve excerpted a selection of these letters. Stay tuned for more in 2009, as the story continues to unfold.

Eryn Brown

Letters editor

The court: Divisive ruling

Re “Gay marriage ban overturned,” May 16

On Thursday, four non-elected public servants betrayed 4,618,673 Californians in legalizing same-sex marriage. These judges decided that their opinion was more important than a law that 61% of California voters passed in 2000.

Since when did judges make law? I swore that was the job of the legislative branch.

Adam Cabrera

Upland

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I know this is hard for evangelical primitivists to understand, but the California Supreme Court was not engaged in “judicial activism.”

Rather, the court did its job. It prevented a majority from legislating against a minority in an unconstitutional manner.

Eric L. Nelson

Sacramento

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Re “Marriage for all,” editorial, May 16

Ah, yes, “marriage for all” sounds so cutting-edge cute. But it raises the question, all what? All people already married? All children? All serial rapists and pedophiles?

God’s plan for marriage is simple and straightforward: Marriage is the voluntary union of one unmarried man and one unmarried woman, mature enough for the responsibilities of caring for a home and a new family.

Other kinds of working arrangements or living together may be loving and mutually supportive, but they are not marriage!

Where’s that initiative for November? I’m ready to sign right now. And I’m a Democrat!

Bonnie Compton

Hanson

Santa Ana

The campaign: Religion, rights

Re “Will gay rights trample religious freedom?” Opinion, June 17

People who claim they want a constitutional ban on gay marriage for religious reasons do not seem to understand that they (unconstitutionally) seek to force their religion on people who may not share their beliefs.

It really doesn’t matter to a nonbeliever what the Bible says about gay marriage. The issue is moot to us.

Why should people who aren’t religious live by biblical edicts?

Either religious opponents of gay marriage haven’t thought this through, or they are hiding their bigotry behind a thin veil of faith.

Kari Tervo

Los Angeles

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Re “Churches plan a big push against same-sex marriage,” Aug. 24

I won’t presume to lecture non-Christians on their faiths, but as a lapsed Catholic, I’m slightly familiar with the New Testament.

Jesus spends a tiny bit of New Testament time on homosexuality, but you want to know what he was really tough on? Divorce.

So where’s the proposition to ban divorce? Mobilize a million people over a proposition that bans straight divorce, one that really keeps families together, and I’ll give up my right to gay marriage.

John Rabe

Cypress Park

The writer is the host of the “Off-Ramp” program on KPCC-FM (89.3).

The vote: Victory, shock

Re “Focused beyond marriage,” Nov. 6

There is too much irony in the 2008 election. How can a people make such great progress by electing the first African American president but relegate an entire section of its population to second-class citizenship?

Today I wake up and find myself separate and unequal. I do this on the same day many Americans feel equality for the first time.

C. Stenke

Los Angeles

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When I woke up Thursday morning, I felt pretty bad. But then I checked my e-mail and saw messages of consolation from friends and family. Then I went for a hike in the hills with my partner, the love of my life for 16 years. Then I went to work -- where straight colleagues, whom I’ve known for only a few months, came up to say how sorry they were about the results.

And that’s when it hit me: We’re still here.

Why is this so satisfying? Because the people who sponsored Proposition 8 don’t only want to protect marriage -- they want to destroy gay people. I’ve got news for them: It is they who don’t fit in. We may not have won this round, but it’s clear which way this country is going.

Joann Moschella

Santa Cruz

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As a black male, I can tell you that the reason the African American community voted for Proposition 8 had less to do with religion and more to do with a sense of resentment toward the gay community and the California Supreme Court for attempting to equate one’s bedroom activities with the color of one’s skin.

Try as you may to fallaciously link the two, interracial marriage is still a man-woman issue, and gay marriage is not. It is something new and different, for which our society has already crafted a new and different type of union called a domestic partnership.

Jason W. Perrault

Studio City

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It’s amazing that seven in 10 blacks in California voted in favor of Proposition 8.

Despite many of us having already received our not-so-subtle voting instructions on this issue in church, you could have figured that more blacks here would have known better than to inflict discriminatory laws on another minority group.

Regardless of personal religious views or insecurities, one’s credibility in the equal-rights arena is shot when you get caught “doing unto others” that which you fought against when it was applied to you.

Mike Henderson

Los Angeles

The future: Debate rages

Re “Focused beyond marriage,” Nov. 6

To the thousands at the rally to protest Proposition 8, thank you for coming. But where were you when we needed you?

On Sunday, my husband and I attended what was supposed to be a “No on 8” rally in West Hollywood. The turnout was only about 300 to 400 people. As we walked back from the rally, we saw what seemed like thousands more of you out drinking. You couldn’t be bothered to take a couple of hours to demonstrate for your civil rights.

I’ve heard it all: “Isn’t giving money enough?” “Don’t worry, this thing will never pass.” Well, guess what: Proposition 8 did pass. And now you decide to rally? Perhaps next time you won’t wait to get out there and fight.

Ari Solomon

Los Angeles