Prop 8 My Vote

Years back as a professional photographer, I was asked to photograph a gay wedding. In a church. Surprised? You shouldn't be. In a legal sense of the word, it was not a marriage but in a commitment and religious sense of that church, it was. The word "Marriage" is really a religious word and in a country that believes in separation of church and state, Proposition 8 should stay as elected by the voters.

The problem with disallowing Proposition 8 in California is that it will eliminate the separation between church and state and if you force marriage between people to be done by all churches, you are in essence eliminating that separation because it dictates to religious institutions what they must do and eliminates choice and individual belief.

Truth is that in California, the Legislative body has passed a tax law several years back that allows registered domestic partners to file taxes jointly, giving them the same benefits as "married filing jointly". In addition the State Legislature has been enforcing companies to give same benefits to registered domestic couples.

Becoming a "registered domestic partner" in California is easy and it will stand whether Proposition 8 is upheld or not. Having the same legal rights as domestic partners does not require a religious wedding but a religious wedding can be celebrated in churches that allow such. Therefore as in any union joining together only requires a commitment between two people and if you believe in the separation of church and state as I do, you will also agree that Proposition 8 should stand.

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