Monday, June 23, 2008

Same-sex marriage in California -- smooth so far

Here is a link to the Register's editorial on the beginning of legal same-sex marriage in California. We observed that it has gone fairly calmly so far -- oh, there was some joke yelling at the first couple in Beverly Hills that they "burn in hell," but such incidents have actually been fairly rare. Both sides in the issue that will be on the ballot in November, to make man-woman marriages the only kind the state recognizes as part of California's already-cumbersome constitution rather than simply a statute, as was done in 2000,m have reasons not to alienate voters with too much flamboyance of disturbances.

We again defend the California Supremes' decision on equality-before-the-law grounds (having actually read the decision and all the dissents). I'm fascinated that among our commenters are several defenders of gay marriage. I don't know. It's been eight years since the last vote and opinions are changing. The Field Poll shows, for the first time, a 51 percent bare majority in favor of gay marriage. Of course the campaign hasn't started yet. But I'm not sure that initiative is a sure thing.

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