A coalition of proponents led by Love Honor Cherish today submitted ballot language to the State of California for an initiative that would repeal Proposition 8 in November 2010.
The proposed measure reads as follows:
This amendment would amend an existing section of the California
Constitution. Existing language proposed to be deleted is printed in strikeout type. Language proposed to be added is printed in underlined type.
Section 1. To
protect religious freedom, no court shall interpret this measure to
require any priest, minister, pastor, rabbi, or other person authorized
to perform marriages by any religious denomination, church, or other
non-profit religious institution to perform any marriage in violation
of his or her religious beliefs. The refusal to perform a marriage
under this provision shall not be the basis for lawsuit or liability,
and shall not affect the tax-exempt status of any religious
denomination, church or other religious institution.
Section 2. To
provide for fairness in the government's issuance of marriage licenses,
Section 7.5 of Article I of the California Constitution is hereby
amended to read as follows: Sec. 7.5. Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. Marriage
is between only two persons and shall not be restricted on the basis of
race, color, creed, ancestry, national origin, sex, gender, sexual
orientation, or religion.
Equality California executive director Geoff Kors told journalist Rex Wockner that the group helped draft the language: "We helped Love Honor Cherish draft the language. We don't agree on timing, but we wanted the language to be as good as possible."
Restore Equality 2010, in a press release, praised the submission of the ballot language and explained how they would be working with the Courage Campaign, which has previously said that it was interested in exploring the feasibility of a 2010 initiative.
"We are in close contact with both Courage Campaign and the Love Honor Cherish coalition, and look forward to facilitating the efforts with all interested parties to determine the most powerful way to move towards our common goal. Courage Campaign's research seeks the best strategy for the campaign while Love Honor Cherish seeks the advantage of a full 150 days for signature gathering. We are pleased to have the benefit of both strategies as we move forward together. Should the research being conducted by Courage Campaign show us that another approach offers a greater opportunity for victory, Restore Equality 2010 will be able to refile language and push for fundraising to support a shorter signature gathering period. The campaign will also be ready to mobilize activists the day language is approved by the Secretary of State should the language submitted today prove to be the best choice, thus preserving the full 150 day window to gather signatures."
According to Love Honor Cherish executive director John Henning, "The goal of 1 million signatures will be reached
primarily by using an army of motivated volunteers. The campaign will
also use new social networking technology designed specifically by Love
Honor Cherish, which will build community around the signature
gathering process. The signature gathering process will last through
April 2010."
