California says ‘no’ to gay marriage

California voters this week approved a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, throwing into limbo 18,000 same-sex marriages performed in the state since June. By a 52–48 margin, voters ratified Proposition 8, which mirrored a successful 2006 state referendum that defined marriage as occurring only between a man and woman. After the state Supreme Court threw out that measure for being unconstitutionally discriminatory, gay-marriage opponents began pushing for the constitutional amendment.

Proposition 8 was the most closely watched referendum on any state ballot, with backers, led by the Mormon church, and opponents pouring in $74 million. Exit polls showed that heavy black turnout was a significant factor in the measure’s passage, as pastors in many black churches spoke in support of the measure. Voters in Florida and Arizona passed similar amendments, though they will have less impact since gay marriage is not allowed in those states.

Gay-marriage foes won by employing scare tactics, said the Ventura County, Calif., Star in an editorial. They argued that gay marriage would somehow find its way into the basic elementary-school curriculum and that churches could be forced to marry gays. The Supreme Court was correct in knocking down the earlier version as an assault on basic rights. This vote now “embeds discrimination in the California constitution.”

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Actually, what it embeds is the principle that citizens, not judges, get to decide such fundamental matters, said Maggie Gallagher in the Los Angeles Times. Most people recognize that marriage “is a virtually universal human institution with a certain recognizable shape.” The court thought it could overturn thousands of years of human tradition, as well as biology itself. The people of California felt otherwise.

Yes they did, which “feels like a punch in the gut,” said Andrew Sullivan in TheAtlantic.com. As a gay man in a committed relationship, it’s hard to fathom why anyone would want to treat gay couples as “second-class human beings.” But “I am not shattered.” Any major civil-rights movement is bound to face setbacks. “So we get back to work, arguing, debating, writing—and struggling to change more minds.”