My parents forwarded me the video below, they and a great many of our family friends are Latter Day Saints (Mormons). I couldn’t watch the video and not respond back to them (all of them sending the letter below to about 100+ people who had the video forwarded or CC’d to them. As I get replies from them I’ll post their emails and my responses back. If you don’t understand some of what I’m saying, don’t worry I’m just arguing church doctrine with them, but hopefully there won’t be too much of that
The terrible video:
My Response:
I’m sorry, but I couldn’t watch this and not reply to it. The CA supreme court’s ruling was not a whim, it was a very strict reading of the California and federal constitution. The reasoning of the California Supreme court was the same reasoning behind the Federal Supreme Court’s decision used to strike down the anti inter-racial marriage laws of the 1960’s (more info here).
As we all know “separate but equal” by its very definition is not equal. The Supreme Court decided in 1967, “These statutes also deprive the Lovings of liberty without due process of law in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.”
furthermore the California constitution specifically states in Article 1 Sec. 8 (b) ” a citizen or class of citizens may not be granted privileges or immunities not granted on the same terms to all citizens…” the judges weren’t imperialists they were strictly interpreting the State’s and federal constitutions.
I will not participate in a proposition that denies equal rights under the law to a small subset of people, regardless of how I may personally feel about those people’s actions… In fact I will fight against any such proposition as any act which limits the freedoms and rights of my fellow American, limits my own.
Sincerely,
Jonathon Howard