Overseas Chinese Web Guide

Tag: proposition 8

  • Proposition 8 and Interracial Marriage

    Is Proposition 8 a civil rights issue? The supporters of Proposition 8 would claim otherwise. Allowing blacks and whites to marry is one thing. However, allowing two men or two women to marry is another. Their argument is that the purpose of marriage is to propagate the human race. That’s why allowing gays to marry is different from allowing people of different races to marry. However, a look back in history reveals that the same arguments against gay marriage were also used to ban interracial marriage:

    It is stated as a well authenticated fact that if the issue of a black man and a white woman, and a white man and a black woman intermarry, they cannot possibly have any progeny, and such a fact sufficiently justifies those laws which forbid the intermarriage of blacks and whites, laying out of view other sufficient grounds for such enactments.

    I suspect that if this was 1948 instead of 2008, the same people supporting Proposition 8 would be advocating for the prohibition of interracial marriage.

  • California Proposition 8 and Traditional Marriage

    With the general election just 3 weeks away, now is as good a time as any to start focusing on all the ballot box issues. In California, Proposition 8, which eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry, is a bit curious. Its supporters claim that “Proposition 8 is about traditional marriage.” Indeed, I saw an advertisement in a regional Chinese newspaper for a rally in support of traditional marriage. However, cultural differences being what they are, the advertisement explicitly stated that the traditional marriage they were referring to involved one male and one female, as opposed to the traditional marriage found in Raise the Red Lantern. God forbid that some royalists show up at the rally urging Californians to follow the ways of late Ching Emperor.

    In all seriousness, I just don’t understand how Proposition 8 protects marriage. It may protect the definition of marriage. However, for people that are contemplating marriage or who are married, it offers no assistance or support whatsoever. Proposition 8 supporters offer that “the best situation for a child is to be raised by a married mother and father.” Great! But, how is banning gays and lesbians from getting married going to help working parents raise their kids. Uh. If Proposition 8 was really about protecting marriage and raising kids, it would offer tax relief to married couples with children.