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Gay couples request marriage

Excerpted from an article by Alan Blank

5/16/2008

Assemblymen Chuck DeVore and Van Tran and state Sen. Tom Harman say the Supreme Court ruling goes against the will of the people, who approved Proposition 22 in a landslide vote.

“Proposition 22 consists of the clearest 14 words in our state law. There is no ambiguity here; the intent of California voters is clear and overwhelming,” Tran said. “I will fight this kind of judicial activism vigorously and continue to fight for marriage as only that between a man and a woman.”

DeVore said he has read the entire ruling and thinks the way the judges justified their opinion — by citing the rights to privacy and equal protection under the law — will strip the state of its power to ban “polygamous marriage or incestuous marriage since, using the court’s own arguments, these alternative arrangements do no harm to traditionally married couples.”