Proposition 22 | Vote 2000 Home | Next - Prop 23 | Secretary of State Home |
Limit on Marriages. Initiative Statute.
Argument Against Proposition 22
 

Arguments on this page are the opinions of the authors and have not been checked for accuracy by any official agency.


The California Interfaith Alliance
The League of Women Voters of California
The California Teachers Association
Senator Dianne Feinstein
Senator Barbara Boxer
Congressman Tom Campbell
Vice President Al Gore
Senator Bill Bradley
The California Republican League

And thousands of husbands, wives, mothers and fathers from across California oppose Proposition 22.

THE PURPOSE OF PROPOSITION 22 IS NOT TO BAN MARRIAGE FOR SAME-SEX COUPLES IN CALIFORNIA. IT IS ALREADY BANNED.

You don't need to support marriage for gay and lesbian couples to oppose Proposition 22, the "Knight Initiative". You just have to believe in a few basic values--keeping government out of our personal lives, respecting each other's privacy, and not singling out one group for discrimination or for special rights.

VOTING NO ON 22 WILL NOT LEGALIZE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE, NO MATTER WHAT THE SUPPORTERS OF PROPOSITION 22 SAY.

The real purpose is to use Proposition 22 as a tool in court to deny basic civil rights to lesbians and gays and their families. Proposition 22 will be used, as similar laws have been in other states, to deny the right of partners to visit their sick or injured companion in hospitals, to deny the right to inheritance, and even to deny the right of a remaining companion to live in their home.

PROPOSITION 22 WILL RESULT IN UNNECESSARY GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE.

Whether we think homosexuality is right or wrong, we should stay out of other people's private lives and let people make their own decisions about moral values and commitments. Californians treasure our right to be left alone and to lead our lives the way we wish. Adding more laws about private behavior and personal relationships isn't a solution to anything.

PROPOSITION 22 DIVIDES US. Californians have seen too many efforts in recent years to pick on specific groups of people and single them out for discrimination. Supporters of Proposition 22 are spending millions of dollars to convince you that basic rights should be denied to a group of Californians. They want us to believe that attacking same-gender couples will solve problems instead of causing them. But we've seen what spreading fear and hatred has already done. According to the Attorney General, more than 2,000 Californians were victimized by hate crimes last year alone. California has had enough of the politics of fear and hate. Voting "No" on 22 will send that message.

PROPOSITION 22 IS UNFAIR. Even when gay or lesbian couples have been together for many years, one companion often has no right to visit a sick or injured companion in the hospital. They often can't get basic health insurance for dependents. They have no inheritance rights. That's wrong. And Proposition 22 will make it more difficult to right this wrong--by singling out lesbians and gays for discrimination.

Proposition 22 doesn't solve any problems . . .
It adds more government interference to our lives . . .
It singles out one group for attack . . .
It tears us apart instead of bringing us together.

VOTE NO ON 22.

Antonio R. Villaraigosa
Assembly Speaker, California State Legislature

The Right Reverend William E. Swing
Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California

Krys Wulff
President, American Association of University Women, California
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