Prop 8 Was Not Just Another Issue

A couple weeks ago I posted photos of a Prop 8 protest without comment.

The photos spoke for themselves. They did one of the things journalists are supposed to do. They gave voice to the voiceless.

Of course, some will disagree with the characterization of the losing side as voiceless. Some will say what they've been saying to me in anonymous blog comments and in e-mails, that the time for voices to be heard has passed, that the voters have spoken and more than half of them said "yes" on Prop 8. Some will view this as just another ballot issue, and declare anyone who dares to express dissent little more than a sore loser.

But, this was not just another ballot issue. This wasn't about fixing an injustice, nor was it about closing some legal loophole that was costing taxpayers money.

This was and continues to be about taking away rights, civil rights, and for those whose rights were taken away to remain silent now would equal acceptance for generations to come, not just here in California, but in the states that will surely seek to mimic us.

Voters aren't always right. Courts aren't always right. Who now, for example, would dispute that the US Supreme Court was flat wrong in 1896 when it upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson? Yet, as obvious an abomination as that ruling is today, it took our nation 58 years to undo it, then another 10 years to get the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act passed in the mid '60s.

Without question, it's a mistake to think of Prop 8 as just another ballot item. This is about procedural fairness in law, and protection from discrimination. (Note the recent eHarmony settlement).

Both sides praised Wednesday's announcement that the Supreme Court in San Francisco has decided to hear arguments on the validity of Prop 8. But, considering how that court has ruled before, and the legal question to be considered, it's hard to imagine anything but an invalidation of the proposition.

Although Keith Olbermann [see inset] expressed a similar point of view before the court made its decision to hear the matter, it's hard to imagine his mind has changed. We can only hope more people in Olbermann's position speak loudly and often about this issue.

As Olbermann points out, supporting Prop 8 is impossible to reconcile with the credo "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."


— TJ Sullivan