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Supervisors reject same-sex marriage ban


By BLEYS W. ROSE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 4:50 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 11:32 a.m.

On a 4-1 vote, Sonoma County supervisors voted Tuesday to urge that voters reject Proposition 8, the November ballot issue that would eliminate the right of same sex couples to marry.

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North county Supervisor Paul Kelley, the panel's conservative voice, cast the lone negative vote. He said he supported the proposed constitutional amendment and did not want the board to take a position on the controversial issue.

"It is straightforward," Kelley said. "I don't think it takes away any rights from anyone."

But Supervisors Mike Kerns, Valerie Brown, Mike Reilly and Tim Smith said the board should take a public stance because they view the proposition as a civil rights issue affecting gays as well as an economic issue that could result in lost income if passage causes tourism revenues to decline.

More than a dozen opponents of the proposition, some gay and some heterosexual, called for the board to unanimously oppose the proposition. No one spoke in support of the measure.

Ben Cushman, a Sebastopol resident who recently married his longtime partner, said the proposition would deprive him of constitutional rights that the state Supreme Court ruled gays were entitled to.

The proposition, he said, "perpetuates intolerance and hate against a long-suffering minority."

Stephen Gale, chairman of the Sonoma County Democratic Party, said elected central committee members had decided to campaign against the proposition because it is a "discriminatory ballot measure."

"This proposition is nothing more than one group trying to impose their moral standards on another," Gale said.

Brown criticized the advertising campaign behind the proposition, saying it attempted to use "the power of fear and the power of the negative" to stimulate support. She and other critics said the proposition's ad campaign falsely claims that churches will be forced to recognize gay marriage if the measure is not approved.

"I have never heard such crazy ads in all my life," Brown said.

Last week, supervisors voted to oppose five other propositions on the Nov. 4 ballot -- measures 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10 -- saying they failed to provide sustained funding for the initiative-backed projects.

You can reach Staff Writer Bleys W. Rose at 521-5431 or bleys.rose@pressdemocrat.com.


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  1. fshfrmr4 says...
    October 15, 2008 6:59:30 am

    RE: Link

    Lost Tourism???? You will have to explain that one. Paul Kelly should be commended for using common sence.

  2. collinsfriend says...
    October 15, 2008 7:27:02 am

    This will A) not decrease tourism it is already legal. This is also the WRONG reason to refuse anyone anything that is a civil right. How corrupt their thinking is.
    B)This will encourage out of state usurpers to continue to meddle in other states politics even though they would scream if pro-gay marriage people (HMMM good idea) went to low population Utah to vote it in Hmmmm..
    C) This continues what amounts to Jim Crow laws.
    D) The board is incredibly arrogant to think they have any "right" to recommend or meddle in any voting.

  3. foodguy15 says...
    October 15, 2008 8:57:32 am

    Four judges discarded the votes of 4,618,673 Californians who approved the state's 'Defense of Marriage Act.'
    It was previously titled the Protect Marriage Act
    Attorney General Jerry Brown is trying to stack the deck against a November ballot measure barring same-sex marriage by declaring in his formal ballot description that it "eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry,
    Backers of Proposition 8 argued that they are not trying to eliminate anyone's rights but are simply seeking to restore the definition of marriage that existed in California before May 15, when the state Supreme Court struck down the law defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
    Some activists think the language change, which spells out the removal of the right for same-sex couples to marry, could help to defeat the measure, according to Waymon Hudson at Bilerico.com. He notes that some polls have shown that changing the language to denote the removal of rights can add up to 10 percentage points to the "no" votes.Welcome to the new America where your vote does not count
    Where 4,618,673 votes are tossed aside and voting descriptions are changed to benefit only one side of the issue.

  4. cint says...
    October 15, 2008 9:37:48 am

    it makes no difference what "the people" want or don't want with a corrupt so-called American judicial system being used to implement special interest philosophies previously voted against by the population majority. America is no longer the free democratic society it promotes itself to be with laws passed every day compromising the will of the people while giving advantages to special interests and minority views. this version of an American democracy is an absolute facade and fraud like most so-called progressive ideological viewpoints.

  5. thewholetruth@SoCoBB.com says...
    October 15, 2008 9:54:01 am

    That's all ANY Liberal's got. They can't argue the issues. They have no moral or ethical ground to stand on in their support of killing babies before they're born, their support of homosexual behavior, their support of Socialism. No Liberal has ever even attempted to make an intelligent argument for any Liberal issue in any forum I've ever been involved with. It's always "You're dumb cuz you can't spell" or "Thank God people like you will die one day". None of them have the ability to support codepending homosexuality, killing babies, Socialism or any other sicko Liberal platform. Not a single one has dared to risk even offering their opinions on SoCoBB.com and I understand why. They cannot support their positions. It's as simple as that...

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