Letters: Prop. 8 violates Constitution's equal protection clause

All of a sudden, signs in favor of Proposition 8 are appearing on lawns here in Crescent City. The proposition would bar the right to same-sex marriage in California.

It is well-established that some fraction of our species and of all other species has an inborn orientation toward members of their own sex, whether they choose it or not. To repudiate people for their sexual orientation is to punish them for something they are biologically hard-wired for. We are past the days when homosexuality could be characterized as somehow a mental illness, or beyond civil bounds.

For those who do not know our history, the whole phobia against homosexuals has only been an issue for the past 150 years or so, in select, mainly Western cultures. This phobic attitude has nurtured hatred and cruelty toward a minority group, which in its effects calls to mind the religious persecution, the Salem witch hunts, or the race-based hatred that persists into the 20th century and beyond.

The Triplicate published a syndicated article which focused almost entirely on the proposition as it relates to education in the schools, an issue not mentioned in the proposition but fright-inducing for some. What the article omits is the issue of fundamental fairness.

The right to marry involves the implicit right to a critical social network of economic and emotional security, the right to family privacy, the benefits (as well as duties and obligations) of the civil marriage contract, such as inheritance rights, rights to mutual financial support including health and survivor insurance, unemployment benefits and social security, homeowners' and other tax exemptions, and the right to custody and visitation of adoptive children, all of these rights inherent in an officially recognized family relationship, and not accorded by "separate but equal" domestic partners legislation.

Proposition 8 clearly violates the equal protection clause of the state and federal Constitutions, proscribing distinct treatment on the basis of sexual orientation. It perpetuates gender discrimination, just as miscegenation statutes perpetuated racial discrimination. I am reminded of the poignant song from an old musical, which begins "You have to be taught to hate and fear ..."

I hope that those who value fairness and compassion, and I would like to think that this includes all of us, will vote against Proposition 8.

Ralph Johansen

Crescent City