Our Opinion: New attempt to ban gay marriage: Here we go again
by Tucson Citizen on Mar. 01, 2008, under OpinionRepublicans in the Legislature have introduced a proposal to amend the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
Again? Yes, unfortunately.
We think the amendment is unnecessary and unworthy of inclusion in our Constitution.
Republicans want to ask voters in November to amend the Constitution to say that “only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state.”
If you think that the state has been down this path before, you’re right.
To their credit, Arizonans in 2006 voted down The Protect Marriage Initiative, which would have amended the Constitution to ban same-sex unions and bar state and local governments from giving legal rights to unmarried couples.
As Phoenix Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema told The Associated Press this month, “We’ve already had this fight a couple of times.”
And if you think that state laws already define marriage as the union between a man and a woman, you are correct.
Supporters of the amendment argue it’s a necessary guarantee that the ban would remain part of Arizona law. But the existing law already has withstood legal challenges; monkeying around with the Constitution to provide more protection is unnecessary.
And if you think that the constitutional amendment process traditionally has expanded – not restricted – individual rights, you’d be correct.
Think of the Bill of Rights or the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave women the right to vote. Or the Victims’ Bill of Rights, added to the Arizona Constitution in 1990 to protect the rights of crime victims.
The new proposal goes backward, seeking to identify in the state’s most important legal document a class of Arizonans – homosexuals – and imbue them with a second-class status.
That’s wrong.
The new proposal can’t allow denial of legal rights to domestic partners. The proposal’s supporters apparently realize that times have changed.
Tucson and other municipalities are offering benefits to same-sex partners, and Gov. Janet Napolitano has issued an order to give benefits to domestic partners of state employees.
We know that state legislators love symbolic gestures and often are driven by extreme ideology. But the state’s Constitution isn’t the place to score mean-spirited rhetorical points.
We urge legislators to scuttle this proposal, with haste.
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