The Orion Online

Issue date: 10/15/08 Section: Features

If students visited the Queer Week information fair Oct. 8 in the Free Speech Area, they saw many booths, a heavily decorated band and quite a few "No on 8" posters.

While there are students who will vote "no" on Proposition 8, there are also students supporting it.

Proposition 8, if approved, would amend the California Constitution and eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry, according to the Voter Information Guide.

Senior Kellen Johnson was undecided on whether he would vote "yes" or "no" on Proposition 8 until he had a spiritual conversation with his wife and decided to vote "yes," he said. But he would not have a problem if Proposition 8 didn't get approved because that would be the majority's decision.

If the voters decide to vote against the proposition, senior Joe Valente, who is running for Chico City Council, would understand it is part of the political system, he said.

Whether Proposition 8 passes and eliminates gay's marital rights or is voted down, Valente doesn't think the issue will be over for either side, he said.

He supports the proposition because it would protect the cultures and values of society, he said. He thinks traditional marriage between a man and a woman keeps that intact.

"I think through all this, that civil unions give the same rights to same-sex couples and that traditional marriage should be protected," he said.

While civil unions in California give same-sex couples virtually all the same rights as heterosexual couples, political science professor Steve Sherlock thinks the meaning of marriage is significant to same-sex couples, he said.

"It signifies the highest level of love and commitment that two people can have, and for the state to deny that to a class of people is to suggest that they are not capable of it," he said.

If Proposition 8 is approved, the state constitution would discriminate against same-sex couples by not allowing them to marry, Sherlock said.

Although it has not been determined whether same-sex marriages that were already performed will be legal if Proposition 8 is approved, many constitutional scholars think the marriages would remain valid since they were legal at the time they were performed, Sherlock said.

With the election less than three weeks away, advertisements both for and against the proposition have been on television.

The "yes" ads state that churches will lose their tax exemptions if they don't perform same-sex marriages and that same-sex marriage will be taught in schools, Sherlock said. But these are "blatant lies."

But the "lies" are working since polls indicate that more Californians support "Yes on 8" since the ads started airing, Sherlock said. Before the "yes" ads were aired, "No on 8" was in the lead.

Web designer Kasey McKnight recently married Lana McKnight, a psychologist at the Counseling and Wellness Center, she said. She thinks they deserve the right to be married and show their commitment to each other in a legal way in the same way the rest of society does.

Not approving Proposition 8 could provide a steppingstone for equal rights across the country, Kasey McKnight said. If

Proposition 8 is approved, it would be a step backward for equal rights.

"We're supposed to be growing as a society and, to me, growth of society is recognizing and giving each other equal rights, equal consideration and equal respect," she said.

Kasey McKnight doesn't understand why California voters get to decide what rights she and her wife have, she said. She doesn't understand why there are people who are trying to take away the joy from her marriage.

The "Yes on 8" campaign uses the slogan "protect marriage," and Lana McKnight doesn't understand why the campaign uses the word "protect," she said.

"I don't see how my marriage is threatening theirs," she said.

Katherine Jarvis can be reached at
kjarvis@theorion.com

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