Right now the Yes on 8 Campaign is telling so many lies in the service of eliminating rights for gay people that it's hard to keep track of all of them. But I want to focus on just one lie for the moment, one from the first Yes on 8 TV Ad:
Churches could lose their tax exemptions
This is a lie. Want to know how I know it's a lie? Here's what the California Constitution currently says, right now, in Article I:
SEC. 4. Free exercise and enjoyment of religion without discrimination or preference are guaranteed. This liberty of conscience does not excuse acts that are licentious or inconsistent with the peace or safety of the State. The Legislature shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.
SEC. 8. A person may not be disqualified from entering or pursuing a business, profession, vocation, or employment because of sex, race, creed, color, or national or ethnic origin.
SEC. 31. (a) The State shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.
The last time I checked, Catholic priests can refuse to marry a couple if they're not both Catholic (and I assume if they haven't completed the various sacraments and classes required). Only Mormons in good standing can even attend a Mormon wedding inside a temple, and Mormon bishops can refuse to marry non-Mormons.
So why haven't the Catholic Church and the Church of Latter Day Saints lost their tax-exempt status in California, like Law Professor Peter Peterson says they might if gay people are allowed to marry and those churches refuse to marry them?
Because churches are private actors, guaranteed freedom of religion in the California Constitution. The elected Justices of the California Supreme Court made that very clear when they ruled, citing Article 1, Section 4 of the California Constitution, in a decision written by Republican Ronald George, that the State could no longer discriminate against gay people who wished to marry:
Finally, affording same-sex couples the opportunity to obtain the designation of marriage will not impinge upon the religious freedom of any religious organization, official, or any other person; no religion will be required to change its religious policies or practices with regard to same-sex couples, and no religious officiant will be required to solemnize a marriage in contravention of his or her religious beliefs. (Cal. Const., art. I, ยง 4.)
So the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign, and Peter Peterson acting as their spokesman, are lying. Under the California Constitution, in the very Supreme Court decision that they Yes on 8 campaign is so up in arms about, no church could lose its tax-exempt status for refusing to marry a gay couple or preaching that gay marriage is wrong.
Nothing that's a good idea needs to be sold with a lie. Vote No on Proposition 8. Don't corrupt our state's Constitution by taking rights away from people for the first time in our history.
I'm contributing to the No on 8 Campaign again, because I'm sick of the lies. So should you: No on 8.
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