Equal Rights Marriage Law
We are living during a monumental time in California, and United States, history.
On May 15, 2008, Chief Justice Ronald M. George of the California Supreme Court issued a 172 page opinion, supported by a 4 to 3 vote of the Court, ending discriminatory California marriage law that segregated same-sex couples.
Not since 1948, when the same Court struck down the then socially accepted laws banning interracial marriages, has the fundamental principle of equal rights been so eloquently, and rightfully, applied.
It took nineteen years following the 1948 ruling for the Supreme Court of the United States to acknowledge the social stigma and affirm that anti-miscegenation laws were unconstitutional.
On March 12, 2004, four long years ago, in response and objection to the California ban on equal rights marriage, I wrote a letter (pdf, png) to Chief Justice Ronald M. George, to his six Supreme Court colleagues, to Congressman, to Senators, and to the Office of the President of the United States.
It is by no means coincidental that the fundamental principles articulated in my letter are synonymous with the backbone of Chief Justice Ronald M. George's written opinion.
Disappointingly, dissenters, seemingly armed with nothing more than prejudice as their compass, now attempt to amend our Constitution, paving the way for equal rights marriage law to become unconstitutional.
With the utmost regard and respect for your private, personal, and religious beliefs, I urge you to understand the significance and privilege granted to you through equal rights embalmed in our Constitution, and ask that you use your power of vote to reject the absurd introduction of inequality into the California and United States Constitutions.
Respectfully yours,
Daniel Lanovaz
Los Gatos, California
Senator Barbara Boxer Response (pdf)
Senator Byron Sher Response (pdf)
Saturday, May 24, 2008
