The California Supreme Court abolished the state’s same-sex marriage ban in May, sparking public celebration in some places and angry protest in others. Now some critics of same-sex marriage are fighting back with an initiative to reinstate the ban, leaving voters once again divided. Should marriage remain between a man and a woman, or is it time to widen the aisle for same-sex couples? (Editor's Note: On November 4th, California voters passed Proposition 8 to ban same-sex marriage.)
Never, at any point in California's history before 2008, have two people of the same sex ever had the right to marry one another. In fact, no state had before Massachusetts, and that was only four years ago. Forty-eight states in the Union still don't permit gay marriage, and even those that permit civil unions or where same-sex relationships are more likely to be tolerated have not taken the step of recognizing gay marriage. It was never contemplated by America's Founding Fathers that anyone other than one man and one woman should be able to marry -- if they had, Utah would have been able to become a state without banning polygamy. Before the 1960s, it was never contemplated anywhere in the world (except maybe Sodom or Gomorrah) that two people of the same gender should be allowed to marry, and even now, the handful of countries that permit gay marriage are still far outnumbered by those that don't.
Plenty of lifestyles are not considered "fundamental rights" and thus not sanctioned by the government -- see Justice Scalia's dissent in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. There's a huge difference between a fundamental right and a right that four judges, presuming to speak for a state that overwhelmingly supported traditional marriage, decided exists.
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