BY ALEX CANTATORE
The Stanislaus County Clerk-Recorder’s Office announced Friday that it would halt the issuance of same-sex marriage licenses in the wake of California voters’ decision to pass Proposition 8.
The Clerk-Recorder’s office had stated as recently as last Thursday that they were unsure as to whether Prop 8 would be enacted immediately. There was some concern that the measure may not take effect until December when the election results will be certified.
The decision to suspend issuing same-sex marriage licenses Friday came as a result of consultation with legal council, direction from the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, and upon the Secretary of State’s Semi-Official canvass results, according to County Clerk Lee Lundrigan. The California State Constitution provides that a proposed amendment or revision takes effect on the day after the election, should it be approved with a majority of votes.
The Clerk-Recorder’s Office did not return a request for further comment before deadline.
According to Nick Freitas, Executive Director of the Stanislaus PRIDE Center, a Modesto-based gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community center, Stanislaus County’s gay and lesbian community has been hard-hit by the Prop 8 decision even in the scant few days since the amendment was passed.
“We just had a married couple here feeling really bad that potentially their rights could be stripped away and their marriage could be null and void,” Freitas said.
City Attorneys in Los Angeles and San Francisco have already filed suit with the California Supreme Court to overturn the same-sex marriage ban. The American Civil Liberties Union has also taken up the issue, filing a legal challenge to the amendment.
“We haven’t heard a whole lot, but we know they are going to the courts right now,” Freitas said. “Justices for the State have voted in favor of gay marriage before, but it’s a different thing going before the courts at this time as a constitutional amendment (as opposed to 2000’s Proposition 22, which altered the State’s Family Code).”
Regardless of the outcome of the legal challenge, Freitas was enthused by the support seen by the No on 8 campaign in Stanislaus County. Statewide, voters went in favor of Prop 8, 52 percent to 48 percent this week, a much slimmer margin of victory than seen in the 2000 election when Prop 22 was passed 61 percent to 39 percent.
“We just always want to thank our supporters,” Freitas said. “There were a lot of people in this area, a large portion of people that did vote no on 8.
“It shows that attitudes are changing.”
To contact Alex Cantatore e-mail acantatore@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2005.
Originally published in the Turlock Journal 11/7/2008.
Retrieved from the Turlock Journal Web site.