Advocates waste no time with efforts to overturn Proposition 8
With about 96 percent of the votes counted, all major news outlets are calling a victory for the proponents of Proposition 8 in the battle of gay marriage.Due to the sensitive matter of civil liberties, many news outlets felt it important to wait until all votes were counted.
Advocates for gay marriage said they had filed a petition with the California Supreme Court today, urging the judges to overturn Proposition 8, the ballot measure that seeks to ban same-sex marriage.
The petition, to the same court that legalized same-sex marriage in May, was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
On Tuesday, California voters approved Prop 8, which seeks to amend the state’s constitution to define marriage as being between a man and a woman. The petition charges that Prop 8 is invalid because the ballot-initiative process was improperly used in an attempt to undo the state constitution’s core commitment to equality by eliminating a fundamental right from just one group, lesbian and gay Californians.
Prop 8 is summarized as changes in California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California. It provides that only a marriage between a man and a woman is recognized and valid.
It shall have little fiscal impact on state and local governments in the long run. In the next few years it could have potential revenue loss, mainly sales taxes which would total several tens of millions of dollars.
A No vote on this measure means that marriage between individuals of the same sex would continue to be valid in California.
A Yes vote will change the California Constitution and specify that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid.