Fresno Democrats Vote for Marriage Equality Restoration
On Wednesday, December 2nd, the Fresno County Democratic Party officially endorsed the latest initiative proposal to overturn last year’s Proposition 8 that removed marriage equality from the California Constitution.
The language of the initiative explicitly calls for fairness in the government’s issuance of marriage licenses and would amend the recently enacted law to read “Marriage is between only two persons and shall not be restricted on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, or religion.”
The new law would exempt clergy or religious denominations from being required to perform marriage ceremonies.
According to Jay Hubbell, Vice Chair of the Democratic Party of Fresno County, this may be the first County level Democratic endorsement of the proposed reform of the 2008 law that denied same sex couples the right to marry in California. The resolution cites the fact that “justice delayed is justice denied” and points out that Proposition 8 has denied one group their right to equal protection of the law.
The initiative backers who are supported by the group “Love, Honor, Cherish” call their signature gathering effort “Sign for Equality.” They need to collect over 600,000 signatures statewide in a period of 150 days to qualify the measure for the November, 2010 general election ballot.
The local coordinator for the initiative is Jay Matthew, a student at Fresno City College. Mr. Matthew is one the thousands of young people who had their right to one day marry taken away by a vote of 52% of those who voted for Proposition 8 in November of 2008. New same-sex marriages are barred even as the California Supreme Court has upheld the legality of the marriages of thousands of same-sex couples who managed to get married in California before the passage of Proposition 8.
Contact Information: Jay Matthew (559) 776-5630
Jay Hubbell (559) 292-4905 or (559) 389-2059
Restore Equality 2010: www.RestoreEquality2010.com
Sign for Equality: www.SignforEquality.com
Love, Honor, Cherish: http://www.lovehonorcherish.org/
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