A gay rights group was cleared by the California Secretary of State to begin collecting signatures for a repeal of Proposition 8, the state’s constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
The group Love Honor Cherish has to collect 807,615 voter signatures by May 14th in order to qualify for a ballot measure in the November elections, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
If passed, the initiative would change Proposition 8 to say “that marriage is between only two persons and shall not be restricted on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, or religion.”
“This is severely impacting people, loving couples who cannot get married. It has severely impacted me not being able to get married,” Tom Watson of Love Honor Cherish said. “It’s been more than three years since Prop 8, and a majority of California residents have realized that it is a mistake to deny loving same-sex couples the right to marry and are ready to reverse the mistake that was made at the ballot box. We should give them that opportunity.”
Proposition 8 was overturned by U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, but supporters of the law appealed that ruling on the grounds that the fact that Walker is gay means he was biased in his decision. Chief U.S. District Judge James Ware rejected their argument, but they are appealing to the 9th Circuit.
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