2003-09-04T16:21:00.000-07:00

Assembly Bill 205 Makes Gay Marriage a Reality

By Laurisa White Reyes

In March of 2000 a phenomenal event occurred; 61.4% of California voters succeeded in amending our state constitution to include the statement “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

What does this statement mean to those of us who cast our ballots in favor of Proposition 22? Was its intention merely to define the word marriage?

No! These fourteen words bear a far greater significance. “The Protection of Marriage Act” was our response to the barrage of left-wing anti-heterosexual assaults that have invaded our entertainment, our news media, our schools, our government, and our lives.

Proponents of traditional marriage maintain that all men and women have the right to conduct their personal affairs according to what each believes is right and wrong. Homosexuals assert that we have no business interfering in their bedrooms and private lives, yet they impose on our lives by demanding we condone sexual behaviors we consider morally abhorrent.

Democrats in our state legislature got the message loud and clear that the majority of Californians did not want gay marriages to become legal, but that has not dissuaded them from their objective. Within months of the passage of Prop. 22, Assembly Bill 26 divided the legislature right down party lines by legalizing domestic partnerships for same sex couples. Democrats voted for it. Republicans voted against it, and since Democrats hold the majority in both the Assembly and Senate, it passed and Governor Davis signed it into law.

Drawing criticism for their blatant defiance of the new constitutional amendment and foreseeing that the public would not allow an outright reversal of Prop. 22, Assemblywomen Carol Migden, Jackie Goldberg and other gay rights advocates chose a more guarded strategy.

On September 11th 2001, the United States was horrified by the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the deaths of 3,000 innocent victims. While Californians mourned the loss of our fellow countrymen, our state legislature was busy at work, and on September 12th Assembly Bill 25 extended a slew of legal benefits previously reserved for married couples to domestic partnerships. This transference of marital benefits to homosexuals should have, under normal circumstances, caused an outcry of protest, but our focus was on New York and AB 25 became law literally while our backs were turned.

Then, in 2002, Assembly Bill 1338 instituted licensing of domestic partnerships, paralleling the licensing of marriages and positioning gay rights activists for the final attack.

This year while all eyes have been on the recall and the economy, the legislature has once again capitalized on our being distracted by passing Assembly Bill 205 which states that “this bill would extend the rights and duties of marriage to persons registered as domestic partners…” Under this new law, traditional marriages and same-sex domestic partnerships are considered virtually equal in every way, save in name only. The liberals have achieved their victory. Proposition 22 is nothing more than an empty shell of meaningless words.

Democrats argue that these senators and assemblymen were chosen by the people and therefore the laws they create represent the people’s will. However, if the majority of voters say they want one thing, and their legislators do just the opposite, then whose interests are they truly representing?

In this case they are representing a very small yet vocal minority. In addition to the bills mentioned above, there are many others whose sole purpose is to further the gay agenda through force of law. These new laws include teaching homosexual curriculum in schools, mandating gay discrimination training for foster parents, requiring employers to allow transgendered employees to “appear or dress consistently with their gender identity,” and excluding businesses and contractors from bidding on state funded jobs unless they offer the same benefits to domestic partnerships as they do to married spouses.

No longer is this a matter of privacy. These laws are a deliberate effort of gay rights advocates to indoctrinate and coerce the rest of us into tolerating and even embracing their “lifestyle.” In the recent past, people who chose not to be tolerant of homosexuality were intimidated and slandered, but no one could be forced to accept what he believed was wrong. With the implementation of these gay discrimination/education laws, we no longer have that choice. In other words, be tolerant or else.

This is not democracy. This is a subversion of the democratic process. The democrats in the Senate and Assembly hold the rest of us in contempt. The will of the people of California is of no consequence to them even when it is expressed in our State Constitution. Politicians like Migden and Goldberg who authored the majority of the bills mentioned here, will get what they want at any cost, even when doing so tramples upon the freedoms of others.

To those of you who cast your ballots in favor of Proposition 22, will you continue to stand by and let them make a mockery of your vote and of our Constitution? Or have you become so inured to their deceit that you are no longer offended by it?

Senator “Pete” Knight (R-Palmdale) and The Defense of Proposition 22 Legal Defense Fund intend to take this issue to the Supreme Court. To show your support please call Senator Knight’s office at (661) 294-8184 or (661) 274-0188. Make your vote count…again.

Affairs of State