Schwarzenegger Ignores the Majority to Sign Out-of-State Same-Sex Marriage Bill

A seventeen year old government student asked for my time after class yesterday, confused and frustrated with California’s politics. I don’t blame him, as I have often wondered living on the “Left” coast, if my voice and vote will ever count. This young man, after researching a current event for class, was angry when he read:

“SACRAMENTO, California, October 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Californians may have voted in November to amend their state constitution to define the institution of marriage as the union of a man and a woman, but new legislation signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now requires California to validate and recognize same-sex “marriages” performed outside the state as either legal “marriage” or marriage-like “unions.” Smith, Peter J. “Schwarzenegger Sign California Law Recognizing Out-of-State Same-Sex “Marriages”" LifeSiteNews.com 15, Oct. 2009.

His specific ire was toward a system that ignores the voice of the voting public, again and again. Being new to the study of government and politics, he couldn’t understand the “how” and the “why” a proposition voted on by a majority of Californians could be changed by a handful of politicians. One could sense the utter frustration this future voter was rightfully feeling.

“Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California”, the language found in Proposition 8, was passed by a majority of 48% of California voters. Karen England, executive director of Capitol Resource Institute pointed out that, “The governor has chosen to completely undermine the will of the people — the millions of Californians who have twice stated that they intend for only traditional marriage to be recognized in our state.”

According to the Free Republic, the new legislation requires California to recognize same-sex “marriages” from out of state as legal “unions” that must be accorded the “same respect and dignity accorded a union traditionally designated as marriage, also the same rights, protections, and benefits, and shall be subject to the same responsibilities, obligations, and duties under law … with the sole exception of the designation of marriage.’”

The bill was originally vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger, yet this second time around he ignored the united voice of his constituents in favor of a well funded and vocal sliver of the population that screams “hate crime” if one disagrees with their homosexual lifestyle.

The Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver, who has litigated in California for almost six years to uphold the natural institution of marriage told LifeSiteNews.com that pro-family advocates as well as Liberty Counsel will mount a a legal challenge to SB 54. Proposition 8 reverses the State Supreme Courts ruling in Proposition 22 because “as a super-statute, only the people, not the governor or the legislature, have the power to override those provisions” he said.

I suppose the moral to the story is that the battle never ends and one moral victory can be overturned by the one who wields the sword. Yet the voter must not give up when the government ignores his vote, but rather, he must “rage against the machine” until every democratic resource has been exhausted.

California is notoriously liberal and its “rulers” are flippantly arrogant to ignore the conservative voice that comes out swinging each election cycle. The liberals have a choke hold, a well funded choke hold on our State’s capitol, yet Californians continue to go to the polls to speak over the din of dirty politics. Perhaps, one day, the head of this boa constrictor can be cut off and a sane, balanced compromise will again be found on the floor Sacramento.

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