It’s not just the gay folks trying to get California’s Prop 8 thrown out. Some religious groups filed a brief earlier this week urging the court to invalidate the amendent, and not the women’s rights groups have joined in. Here is info from a press release the groups just sent out:
Several leading local, state and national women’s rights organizations have submitted an amicus curiae — or friend of the court — brief to the California Supreme Court, asking the court to invalidate Proposition 8 because of its disastrous implications for women and other groups that face discrimination. The organizations joining the brief — filed in support of the petitioners in Strauss et al. v. Horton et al. — will include Equal Rights Advocates, the California Women’s Law Center, Women Lawyers of Santa Cruz County, Lawyers Club of San Diego, Legal Momentum, and the National Association of Women Lawyers.
In the papers submitted to the Supreme Court, the prominent women’s groups argue that Proposition 8 drastically alters the equal protection guarantee in California’s Constitution and that such drastic changes cannot legally be made through a simple majority vote. They argue that such changes require, at a minimum, a two-thirds vote of the legislature before being submitted to the voters. They further state that the position of the proponents of Proposition 8 is both offensive to the rich history of equality in California and contrary to California law.
“There was a time when women couldn’t own property, couldn’t vote, and were excluded from equal opportunities in education. If these had been up for a public vote we still might not have them,” said Irma D. Herrera, executive director of Equal Rights Advocates. “Our constitution proudly protects women and minorities from having our basic civil rights stripped away so easily as they could be with Proposition 8. For the Constitution to have any meaning, core principles such as equal protection can’t be up for grabs in every
election.”
“Proposition 8 pushes the door wide open for future majorities to change the Constitution to deny equal treatment to any group they don’t like,” said Katie Buckland, Executive Director of the California Women’s Law Center. “If Proposition 8 is allowed to stand, the equal protection guarantee of our state Constitution will be practically meaningless, promising only that minorities are protected from unfair majority intrusion until the majority says otherwise.”
There was more. But you get the general gist of it.
