Fears and Lies of Prop 8 Supporters

Lie #1. Children in public schools will be taught that both traditional marriage and same-sex marriage are okay. The California Education Code already requires that health education classes instruct children about marriage. (§51890) Therefore, if the definition of marriage is changed, children will be taught that marriage is a relation between any two adults. There will be serious clashes between the secular school system and the right of parents to teach their children their own values and beliefs.

TRUTH: The California Education Code will not be changed by the defeat (or passage) of Proposition 8. The Code already includes the very thing the anti-gay forces are trying to make you think looms on the horizon. You can’t promote bias against anyone in public schools — including, but not limited to, gay people… and religious people.

The radical right and religious nuts hate the fact that gays are legally protected from hatred in California, just like they are.

They also detest the fact that California prohibits forced religious instruction on public school students — while claiming that California is forcing pro-gay “instruction” on those same students, which it doesn’t.

Lie #2. Churches will be sued if they refuse to allow same-sex marriage ceremonies in their religious buildings that are open to the public. Ask whether your pastor, priest, minister, bishop, or rabbi is ready to perform such marriages in your chapels and sanctuaries.

TRUTH: Two points here. If the facilities are “open to the public,” then yes, the owner could be sued for refusing to allow access to same-sex couples — or anyone else for that matter. The bottom line: Whether a church gets sued for its discriminatory practices or not has absolutely nothing to do with Proposition 8.

To require any church to perform any civil marriage is unconstitutional and violates the US Constitution. No church can be forced to perform any marriage. For example, the Catholic Church will not, and cannot be forced to, perform a marriage for a non-Catholic couple, nor for a divorced Catholic. The First Amendment of the US Constitution protects them.

Lie # 3. Religious adoption agencies will be challenged by government agencies to give up their long-held right to place children only in homes with both a mother and a father. Catholic Charities in Boston has already closed its doors because of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.

TRUTH: This is a multiple-pronged lie. Catholic Charities of Boston did not “close its doors” at all; it is still very much in existence. Catholic Charities of Boston chose to end its adoption work in 2006 because it refused to “comply with state law requiring that gays be allowed to adopt children.” Gay couples (and singles) are already eligible to adopt in California. There’s nothing in Proposition 8 that would change that.

Lie # 4. Religions that sponsor private schools and which provide housing for married students will be required to provide housing for same-sex couples, even if it runs counter to church doctrine, or lose tax exemptions and benefits.

TRUTH: This is unsubstantiated and unprecedented projection. Since the benefits of California’s domestic partnership law were expanded in 2003 (and went into effect in 2005), unmarried couples (gay and straight) registered as domestic partners gained the right to family student housing on public campuses. There has not been a single case of a private religious school being “forced” to house a legally-married same-sex couple.
Proposition 8 will have no effect one way or the other on existing state law (which already prohibits discrimination based on both sexual orientation and marital status) or federal law (which offers no protections for LGBT Americans, and does not recognize same-sex marriages).

Lie # 5. Ministers who preach against same-sex marriages will be sued for hate speech and could be fined by the government. It has already happened in Canada, one of six countries that have legalized gay marriage.

TRUTH: This is a lie, combined with irrelevant fearmongering. I could sue Pat Robertson for hate speech right this minute (anybody can sue anybody for anything, especially in California), but I wouldn’t win. Robertson’s hate speech (and everyone else’s) is protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Lie # 6. It will cost you money. A change in the definition of marriage will bring a cascade of lawsuits. Even if courts eventually find in favor of a defender of traditional marriage (highly improbable given today’s activist judges), think of the money – your money, your church contributions – that will have to be spent on legal fees.

TRUTH: This is a lie, combined with unsubstantiated and unprecedented projection.
The fiscal-impact estimate of Proposition 8 is clear. Passing Prop 8 would initially result in “potential revenue loss, mainly sales taxes, totaling in the several tens of millions of dollars, to state and local governments.” Aside from the additional revenue from sales taxes, same-sex marriage is a boon to business and employment — and our critically fragile economy needs the regular and ongoing injections same-sex weddings provide. This could be worth billions of dollars to the state.

In-depth analysis can be found at The Lavender Newswire.