It's been quite the guilty pleasure the last week seeing the local Right foaming about the California Superior Court's decision to allow homosexual marriage (hey, State Assemblywoman Mimi Walters: are you sure you want to be immortalized in the pantheon of OC GOP wackjobs like James "Barefoot Africans" Utt and Bob Dornan?). On and on they rail about activist judges and the "will of the people" as if they were a bunch of whiny KPFK listeners.
This debate--tyranny of the masses as opposed to justice for all--reminds me of Reitman v. Mulkey, a 1967 Supreme Court decision that found unconstitutional Proposition 14, a ballot measure passed by 65 percent of California voters in 1964. The measure overturned the Rumford Fair Housing Act--which banned property owners from discriminating against potential tenants on basis of race, sex, marriage status, physical handicaps, religion and other goodies--by amending the California Constitution--sounds like a familiar tactic, eh? Although its advocates argued that Proposition 14 was merely combating Big Brother, that position was as valid as Southerners saying the War Between the States wasn't about slavery but state rights.
The local connection, of course, is Dorothy Mulkey. She and her husband Lincoln, U.S. Navy veterans, tried to rent an apartment in Santa Ana in 1963 but were denied based on them being African-Americans. If history continues to navigate its course (remember, we also inspired Mendez v. Westminster), we will see another civil rights pioneer emerge from Orange County once the "will of the people" inflicts its bigotry anew.
May 19, 2008 10:38
Hola Gus!
At the risk of betraying to you what a "pedo viejo" (old fart) I am, I'm surprised you didn't mention Proposition 6, aka the Briggs Initiative (que verguenza).
Back in 1978, CA, state senator John Briggs--also from the OC--sponsored Prop 6, which would've banned gays & lesbians from working in California public schools.
The ballot measure was quite popular with a majority of Californians, however California's gay/lesbian population--both Democrat and Republican--began a grass roots campaign which led to Prop 6's defeat (hell, they even got "good ole Mr. Conservative" himself, Ronnie Reagan, to come out against Prop 6).
May 19, 2008 10:49
Bob: I do know about the Briggs Amendment but didn't mention it because California voters were smart enough to reject such idiocies. November will tell if this new generation will be similarly smart!
May 19, 2008 11:04
"November will tell if this new generation will be similarly smart!"
We can only hope, Gus (we can only hope).
May 19, 2008 11:37
Gustavo:
You might have noticed the pro-decision position we took on the Reg editorial board -- so not everyone in the local Right is upset about an expansion of personal liberty.
--Steven
May 19, 2008 12:05
You're right, Steve, and my apologies. I meant the wacky right, of which it seems all of the OC GOP bigwigs belong to.
May 19, 2008 12:05
Hi Gustavo,
You're right that voters rejected Prop 6. However, Bob brought up an interesting point, i.e., Prop 6's defeat was the result of a grass roots campaign. Otherwise, Prop 6 would've been in the California law books.
Where was that grass roots campaign to defeat Prop 187? It passed, and unfortunately, just like Prop 14, it took the courts to throw that one out.
My concern is that just like Prop 14 & 187, a ballot measure against gay/lesbian marriage, is going to be presented, voted on, & passed by a majority of Californians, and it'll take court action to repeal it.
Therefore, if California gays/lesbians want to maintain this newly won right to marry, they're going to have to mount another grass roots effort, just like they did back in '78, and make sure that the initiative is defeated.