Gay Marriage

Thursday, December 16th, 2021 From the archives: gay marriage

Eva Johnson

Copy Editor

California has had a complicated history regarding the legalization of same-sex marriage. On November 4, 2008, California voters passed Proposition 8, a state amendment, which stated “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

Looking back upon an archived version of The Pepperbox from March 13, 2012, an article called “gay marriage is on its way to legalization in California” by KimThu Pham made it clear that California citizens were fighting for gay rights, but it wasn’t until June 28, 2013 that California legalized gay marriage.

“[Prop 8] serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California,” the Ninth Court of Appeals ruling stated.

The Supreme Court, on June 26, 2015, made a historic ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges under the 14th Amendment, making samesex marriage legal in all 50 states.

Senior Grace Talty shared her thoughts on legalization:

“[I thought legalization] would have come earlier because California, in my eyes, is a more progressive state,” she stated.

Talty has a point. The majority of California’s registered voters are Democrats, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

About 46.5% of registered voters identify as Democrat, with about 65% voting liberal. However, Republicans hold about 24.1% of votes, with 75% of those voters deeming themselves more conservative.

“I’m guessing just as much as we think California is liberal...there are some pretty conservative pockets,” Julie Angles, Sexuality and Gender Acceptance club advisor, expressed.

Since the 2015 Supreme Court ruling, gay marriage laws have changed within states.

“On a daily basis, for the past four years, there has been crisis after crisis…[this has] taken away the focus from what our legislatures are doing,” German teacher, Carolyn Bareilles, said.

With the lockdown and the pandemic, the focus for many political advocates has shifted to masking policies, vaccine mandates, the numbers of COVID cases rising, and the Black Lives Matter movement, but this doesn’t mean states have stopped pursuing gay marriage restrictions.

In February of 2020, Colorado tried and failed to pass the Colorado Natural Marriage and Adoption Act which “permits a clerk to issue a license to marry and a marriage certificate only upon satisfactory proof that the marriage will be between one man and one woman,” as stated by the Colorado General Assembly.

“States are not following the federal law because they think that they have some right to not allow people to marry who they want to,” Talty explained.

Legislation isn’t the only contending factor that affects samesex marriage. Prejudice has surrounded the LGBTQ+ community for a long time, and as Bareilles stated, “any prejudice is prejudice too much.”

Religious ideology has influenced gay marriage rights as well. In Pham’s article, it states that Protect Marriage, a conservative religious coalition, was the original sponsor of Prop 8.

“I think that [religion] has a lot to do with it. I know it says in the Bible ‘the man and the wife’ type of thing. In Southern states, it’s a deep, ingrained value that a man marries a woman,” Talty continued. At Arcata High School, students feel that campus acceptance of same-sex relationships is a complicated matter.

Senior Michael Fitzgerald reports that he hasn’t seen hate against same-sex couples, however, he feels that some groups of students aren’t open to the idea of gay marriage.

“[On campus], it’s at least accepted, maybe not fully supported, but at least it’s not super called out,” Fitzgerald said.

“From my impressions so far, there’s not a lot of discrimnation that I’ve seen, but I don’t want to speak for everyone,” freshman Twilight Sherman felt about samesex couples on campus.

While Arcata High is a generally accepting, Angles feels that more can be done for LGBTQ+ community members.

“[We can] show [same-sex relationships] in a situation where it seems natural, and not trying to make a statement...I have seen positive changes over the course of my career...we just can’t give up. Keep the fight,” Angles continued.

She isn’t the only teacher to feel like more changes can be made.

AHS is “getting better at inclusivity of all people...but more work needs to be done,” Bareilles concluded.

States are not following the federal law because they think that they have some right to not allow people to marry who they want to.

Lila Cohen/PEPPERBOX In 2015 the supreme court ruling overturned Proposition 8, legalizing same-sex marriage