Tuesday, February 7, 2012

9th Circuit Court of Appeals Rules Prop 8 Unconstitutional

A federal appeals court ruled today that California's voter approved proposition 8 (passed in 2008 by voters) that outlawed gay marriage is unconstitutional. The judges claimed that "The people may not employ the initiative power to single out a disfavored group for unequal treatment and strip them, without a legitimate justification, of a right as important as the right to marry."

Do you agree?

This brings up the classic question for any democracy: How should a democracy balance the will of the majority against the rights of the minority? Should an open society prevent same-sex couples from being married? This also brings up the question of role marriage should play in society. Is the sole purpose of marriage to procreate?

The Supreme Court now has the option of hearing this case. We will soon learn whether the US Supreme Court sees a reason to take this case.

7 comments:

  1. its Janett. G ,...
    i think that same sex marriage should be legal for those who find love within someone of a similar gender. The reason to get married is to pro-create but in this world we create to much.There should be free choices in all as of a daily basis, we have a freedom of speech and rights that should also include marriage. We should have the right to choose how we want to live our lives. The Gov't should not discriminate against the love we have toward other people or judge otherwise.

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  2. I believe that everyone should be able to find their significant other and they should be free to love who ever they want, but this would end the formation of a real family. A typical marriage is conformed of a dad, mom and children and with this proposition the whole family picture would not be seen like it used to be.
    -Clarisa V.
    Period 5

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  3. I think everyone deserves to find their other half. If that other half happens to be their own gender then so be it.-- Arturo Vargas

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  4. Even before gays came out and forward with their intimate decisions people's belief that "The purpose of marriage is to procreate" was a false statement. How many people really do get married to have children? Nooo, they get married because they love each other and as a consequence they have children. How many people divorce? waaayyyy too many! & the number of people who have kids BEFORE marriage is significantly high! There are so many children out there who don't have a place to call home or a family to turn to when in need. So that "procreate" statement is not a valid one. If two people love each other why not get married? Shoot, who knows? Maybe gay marriages will end up having fewer divorces. Wouldn't that be something.

    The ruling of it being unconstitutional however can bring many different points. For example, if two adults have the right to marry each other because they feel a connection, where does that leave polygamy? It all comes down to peoples interpretation and societies ability to open their minds. Because things are not always black and white, and if they are then there will always be someone whos not "OK" with the decision.

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  5. Alex Abbott
    p.2

    There are many ways i could approach this subject matter...

    one would be that it should not be allowed because it is a sin. I'm not one to bring up religion but the founding fathers and whoever else decided it, put the word "God" not only in our pledge of Allegiance but on ALL of our currency. so if we are all "under God" then why aren't we following what God says? on this website ( http://www.wvsd.uscourts.gov/outreach/Pledge.htm ) it explains that we are "under God" because we are all supposed to believe in a supreme being.

    The framers who wrote the constitution probably never pictured the future to be so gay.
    i dont believe it is stripping away any rights. i believe that they should not get married.

    another reason would be that it is okay for them to be together but i dont think it should be okay to marry them. i think that overpopulation can be an issue and if there are more gays then there will be less babies being born. haha.

    its not unconstitutional.

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  6. Jose Jimenez Per.2March 9, 2012 at 8:45 PM

    I dont see why gay marriage is so bad. If two people want to get married for he right reasons(love, not to have kids) and want to make a commitment to thanother person who are we to stop them. I think the catholic church s doing the right thing by staying out of this even though they believe it is a sin, the church (pope, bishops,...)never bashed gay merriage even though the die-hard chatholics hate the idea and protest it. Besides catholics think a merriage is one that is made in the house of God not in a park or by a judge and gay people are not going to get married in a church because it is a sin so according to catholic logic a civil merriage, not only between gay people but in general, isnt really a merriage. Thats why the catholic church isnt involved.

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  7. adriana ramirez
    p.5
    I think that nobody should interfere with someones happiness and if that someone is happy with a person of their same sex then let them be happy. In the other side though it would affect the society because younger little boys and girls would be seeing all this and be thinking its okay and normal. In the end i just think its personal decisions.

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