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2010 California Marriage Protection Act

By Fannie

A fella by the name of John Marcotte has filed the logical conclusion to Proposition 8, the "2010 California Marriage Protection Act." This initiative (PDF), if passed by the voters of California, would essentially ban married couples from divorce.

An interview with Marcotte can be found here. In it, Marcotte discusses why this initiative is needed. Not surprisingly, he believes* that "a return to traditional values" is in order.

While I disagree with this proposal and am confident that it won't pass, it will be interesting to watch nonetheless. Sure, there is a faction of "marriage defenders" who would love to re-institute no-fault divorce. Yet, I think that number is much smaller than the number of people who voted to "protect marriage" by taking away the right of same-sex couples to marry.

So, in a way, it's sort of refreshing to see a heterosexual "marriage defender" attempt to enact a law that would actually affect the rights of heterosexuals personally, as opposed to only implementing "marriage-saving" measures to take away the rights of those whom they outnumber. Because really, I can't think of a single measure that would "defend" the idea of "one man, one woman, for life" better than a law banning husbands and wives from divorce.

For the sake of consistency, I'm *sure* we can count on all 7,001,084 Californians who were so very concerned about protecting the sanctity of marriage that they took away the right of same-sex couples to legally marry will now put their money where their mouths are and vote in favor of the 2010 California Marriage Protection Act.

In fact, I think Marcotte himself puts it best:

"People who supported Prop 8 weren't trying to take rights away from gays, they just wanted to protect traditional marriage. That's why I'm confident that they will support this initiative, even though this time it will be their rights that are diminished. To not support it would be hypocritical."

Although, as a point of disagreement, I think that those who supported Prop 8 knew very well what it was they were "trying" to do with respect to the rights of gays. But anyway, Marcotte's point remains. Are "marriage defenders" brave enough and loyal enough to their cause to diminish their own rights?

NOM, DNA (or is that NOM/DNA?) what say you?

*Update- While the initiative is a real one, Marcotte appears to have initiated it for reasons of parodying "marriage defenders."

Full post as published by Fannie's Room on September 21, 2009 (boomark / email).