Attorneys Respond to Eva J. Patterson's 11/21/08 Recorder Article, "Prop. 8 Overhauled the [State] Constitution"

12/05/08 Recorder Letters to the Editor: Two Recorder readers respond to Eva Patterson's article. Attorney Edward J. Taffe invokes Webster's dictionary to support his claim that "Prop. 8, like Prop. 22 before it, vindicates the most basic tenets of democracy." Attorney Russell Davis favors procreation as a rational basis for the state to ban gay marriage. And he rides a familiar, slippery slope from protection for "loving, caring, and sharing relationships" in gay marriages to protection for polygamy and "plural marriages."

Report of Alliance Defense Fund video on "outrageous behavior from homosexual activists"

12/4/08 ADF Alert:

"Dakota Voice reports: 'This is the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) video put together of some of the outrageous behavior from homosexual activists after Californians voted for Proposition 8 to return marriage to the normal, natural definition: between a man and a woman.' "

IN ACCORDANCE WITH TITLE 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107, THIS MATERIAL IS DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PROFIT TO THOSE WHO HAVE EXPRESSED A PRIOR INTEREST IN RECEIVING THE INCLUDED INFORMATION FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. PROP8LEGALCOMMENTARY HAS NO AFFILIATION WHATSOEVER WITH THE ORIGINATOR OF THIS ARTICLE NOR IS PROP8LEGALCOMMENTARY ENDORSED OR SPONSORED BY THE ORIGINATOR.

Deb Kinney to speak tonight at the Marin County Marriage Equality Forum on Proposition 8

12/4/08 press release bt San Anselmo-based Spectrum LGBT Center: The Recorder identifies Deb L. Kinney as a "leading estate planning attorney within the LGBT community." She is also a board member of Equality California. A summary of her comments can be found here.

Jerry Brown has a legal obligation to oppose Prop. 8

12/4/08 SF Chronicle: Derald E. Granberg, former staff attorney, of the California Attorney General's office, expresses his opinion that Attorney General Jerry Brown has no less an obligation to oppose Prop. 8 than his predecessor, Stanley Mosk, when Mosk opposed Proposition 14 (1964), repealing fair housing protections.

Reactions to the California Legislature's Resolutions Opposing Proposition 8.

Click here for California Senate Resolution 7 (SR 7), authored by Senator Mark Leno, and here for Assembly House Resolution 5 (HR 5), authored by Assembly Member Tom Ammiano.

SR 7 emphasizes "the crucial deliberative role of the Legislature in any proposed revision of our Constitution." The resolution adds that the "Legislature is specially suited to examine and
debate significant changes to the principles and structure that underlie the California Constitution, and is structured for precisely such a task." Santa Clara University Law Professor Gerald Uelmen believes that, in deciding the "amendment v. revision" question, the California Supreme Court must recognize the importance of the Legislature's deliberative role. He states that "the court should be asking whether the change [an initiative] measure accomplishes is significant enough that the adversary deliberation of a legislative proposal or a constitutional convention is necessary."

The 12/03/08 SF Chronicle has comments by U.C. Berkeley Law Professor Jesse Choper and Andrew Pugno, attorney for the Yes on Proposition 8 Campaign. Other news sources include the 12/03/08 Sacramento Bee. "Leaders of the ProtectMarriage.com - Yes on Proposition 8" issued this 12/2/08 press release, which appears to be a source of Pugno's comments to the SF Chronicle.

Are Utah and Arkansas the New Centers of the Gay Rights Movement?

12/3/08 Jurist Legal News and Research:

"JURIST Guest Columnist Douglas NeJaime of UCLA School of Law says that in the wake of California voters' endorsement of Proposition 8, amending the state Constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman, the battle for gay rights may now shift to other states and focus on issues other than marriage equality..."

Attorney Fredrick Hertz: "I Said 'I Do' With My Same-Sex Partner--But Am I Married?"

11/30/08 Nolo Press article: Frederick Hertz, Oakland attorney who runs the website SameSexLaw.com, offers "educated guesses" on how the following questions might be answered, and addresses uncertainties with respect to taxes and divorce:

• For those married in California: Is our marriage valid at all?
• For Massachusetts and Connecticut residents who married in their home state: Will our marriage be valid if we leave the state?
• For non-residents who married in Massachusetts and Connecticut: Is our out-of-state marriage valid in our home state?

IN ACCORDANCE WITH TITLE 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107, THIS MATERIAL IS DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PROFIT TO THOSE WHO HAVE EXPRESSED A PRIOR INTEREST IN RECEIVING THE INCLUDED INFORMATION FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. PROP8LEGALCOMMENTARY HAS NO AFFILIATION WHATSOEVER WITH THE ORIGINATOR OF THIS ARTICLE NOR IS PROP8LEGALCOMMENTARY ENDORSED OR SPONSORED BY THE ORIGINATOR.