Legal Commentary

As the New York Times has reported, the battle over same-sex marriage "is raging like a wind-whipped wildfire" in California. Proposition 8 on this year's ballot is an attempt to amend the California constitution and reverse a California Supreme Court decision permitting same-sex marriage. According to the Associated Press over $60 million in contributions has been spent for and against the proposition (apparently a record for a ballot initiative).

I don't want to comment on the substance of the same-sex marriage debate. Instead I have a question about one of the strategies being used to drum up support for, and opposition to, the proposition. Yesterday, across from a local McDonalds was a group of maybe 10 demonstrators with signs and placards, and they were chanting "yes on 8" as cars drove by -- usually zipping by at 40-50 mph. It's been scorching hot in Southern California this weekend, and standing on the concrete sidewalk looked brutal. A few miles later there was a group of 5 or 6 other demonstrators waving "no on 8" signs in front of a gas station (there was a single counter-demonstrator across the street with a "yes on 8" sign, looking upset that he was outgunned 6 to 1, but yelling loudly to make up for it).

I certainly understand the purpose of protests outside say the Democratic or Republican National Conventions, or a federal building, or a courthouse with a large number of demonstrators and press coverage.... but a few people outside a McDonalds or a gas station? How effective can that be? I'd be surprised if anyone driving by had a sudden startling revelation: "how could I have been so wrong, I was planning to vote one way, but now I'll vote the other!" Perhaps organizers are keeping their fingers crossed that they will get some mileage from their slogans. Certainly, both sides have been oblique in their advertising -- both rarely mentioning same-sex marriage directly. I saw a sign that said something like "Yes on 8 - Protecting California Children" - which, to make an understatement, seems a tad misleading even for those concerned with same sex marriage being mentioned in schools. But does anyone pay any attention to a handful of people on the side of a road yelling at passing cars? If anything, I tend to think it undermines their position -- frankly, seeing terribly sun-burned people, hopping up and down, and yelling nonsensically at cars (at least it sounds that way at 50 mph) has a tendency to make me want to vote the opposite regardless of what the issue is.

So, I'm interested. I am not concerned with people holding signs and staking their positions -- if that's the way someone wants to spend their weekend, all the power to them. Perhaps this is simply evidence of a thriving democracy; something to be celebrated. But is there any indication that these sort of demonstrations have any effect at all on an election?