Thanks to the law permitting public initiatives in California, gay and lesbian people may soon be able to vote on the marriages of heterosexual people. It was, of course, the initiative process that brought us Proposition 8, that put gay marriage up for a popular vote and overturned the judicial legalization of such unions.
Now, a measure that would outlaw divorce among those heterosexually married folks could be headed for the 2012 ballot in California. Mercury News reports that “the 2012 California Marriage Protection Act has cleared a major legal milestone: Last week, the secretary of state’s office gave [John] Marcotte permission to start gathering signatures. To make the June 2012 ballot, he’ll need nearly 700,000 approved signatures by the spring of that year.”
The 38-year-old Marcotte has said such a measure is necessary to preserve marriage, as the anti-gay marriage folks say they want to do. Marcotte has complained “among other things that divorced teachers shouldn’t be allowed to teach his kids. He said there’s a reason people like his anti-divorce arguments so much: ‘I stole them from the Yes on 8 site.’ And he’s counting on support from groups who bankrolled the anti-gay-marriage initiative.” Read More...
