When Talking Prop 8, No Means Yes. Confused?

ellen degeneres on prop 8, gay marriageIn her own words, Ellen DeGeneres on why Prop 8, which seeks to eliminate gay marriage, is a confusing one to vote on: ''The wording of Prop 8 is tricky. It's like if someone asked you, 'You don't want dessert, right?' But you do want dessert so you say, 'Yes,' which really means you don't want dessert. And if you say, 'No,' which means you do want dessert -- it sounds like you don't. Either way, you don't get what you want. See -- confusing. Just like Prop. 8.'' A yes vote will stop gay marriage, a no vote will keep gay marriage. DeGeneres married her gay partner Portia De Rossi this summer.

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I ran into this problem at work. Instead of focusing on yes or no, I now just tell them that Prop 8 is bad. "Don't vote for it. It's bad, bad, bad." At about that time, the person I'm talking to gets the message. Well, except the LDS members.

Prop 8 aims to eliminate basic constitutional freedoms related to liberty and equality, personal responsiblity and privacy - the basic fundamental beliefs that the Republican party was founded on. Republicans should be ashamed of themselves if they think Prop 8 is part of their party's platform. It's not.

A Yes vote is a vote for discrimination and bigotry.

A No vote is common sense. Both as a democrat and a republican. Democrats - because these days they seems to be the party of compassion; Republicans, because they were and will always be the party of "get the government the heck away from my personal decisions."

Hope that makes it more clear for all of you...

From the rest of her explanation: "I can’t return the wedding gifts -- I love my new toaster."

That toaster joke never gets old.

It actually seems pretty straightforward. People don't u remember the teacher telling you to "read the directions carefully"? :)

PROPOSITION 8

This initiative measure is submitted to the people in accordance with the provisions of Article II, Section 8, of the California Constitution. This initiative measure expressly amends the California Constitution by

adding a section thereto; therefore, new provisions proposed to be added are printed in italic type to indicate that they are new.

SECTION 1. Title

This measure shall be known and may be cited as the “California Marriage Protection Act.”

SECTION 2. Section 7.5 is added to Article I of the California Constitution, to read:


SEC. 7.5. Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.


I agree with tahda about it being straight-forward - people should be thinking of the prop as "do you want to change the state constitution to ban gay marriage?"

NO.

Actually, that is the old wording of the proposition. The new wording makes it pretty darn clear, without all the Orwellian 'marriage protection' language:

Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry Act

The ballot title for the measure says that Prop. 8 "eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry". Can't get much clearer than that.

I use the phrase, "prop8 to negate gay marriage" to remember this one.

Of course, we can all choose to vote early by mail-in ballot, and then you don't need to memorize anything. You can have the little book with the explanation right in front of you on your couch when you fill out your ballot. Maybe use wikipedia to do some research. Check out what Zach at LAist thinks. Etc...

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