The American River College Student Council voted 8-3 on Sept. 30 to endorse Prop. 8 which defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Outrageous, right?
So, supporters of gay marriage responded by launching a recall effort and trying to immediately oust the council. Now they’d hoped that because nobody ever votes in school elections, that a small but committed advocacy group for gay marriage would oust the council and reverse the stance on gay marriage. In fact, only one percent of the school even voted for the council in the first place.
So the election happened this week. And guess what, lots of students turned out. It was the largest turnout in school history.T he leader’s decision to endorse Prop. 8, a statewide ballot measure that would ban same-sex marriage, caused 3,486 students to turn out and vote on the recall.
And the student leaders who voted to support Proposition 8 won’t lose their council seats after all.
Gay marriage advocates are left with a bit of a public relations black eye. The last thing they wanted to do was hand a victory to the traditional marriage defenders in the press.
I’m starting to have hope for Prop 8 in California. If gay marriage can’t pass on a college campus, then I think they’ll have a tough time passing it in the culture at large -even if it is California.
According to the Sacramento Bee, student council member Viktor Choban, 25, said of the vote, “This resolution has everything to do with education because it affects all the public schools and colleges…If Proposition 8 fails, schools will absolutely be required to teach that gay marriage is equal to normal marriage, thereby confusing students and children about the most basic roles of men and women in society.”
This is such a huge issue and it’s interesting to me how it has evolved that the traditional marriage folks are pushing the angle that children will be taught that marriage is between a man and a man, a woman or a woman, or maybe even sometimes a man and a woman is the angle that seems to be working.
For a while the Yes on Prop 8 folks seemed to be foundering for how to frame the issue but finally they landed on something pretty effective. Adults can get confused sometimes. But I think when we’re forced to consider the world we’re giving our children it sobers everyone up a little.
October 25, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Yes, indeed. I pray for a good turnout to support this proposition. And if those same folks cast a vote for McCain…now that would be sweet. Unrealistic, maybe, but sweet.
October 25, 2008 at 6:21 pm
For what it’s worth, I’ve seen houses here in California with Yes on Prop. 8 signs and Obama signs…
October 25, 2008 at 6:29 pm
For what it’s worth, I’ve seen houses here in California with Yes on Prop. 8 signs and Obama signs…
I read somewhere else someone making that very point–that a good turnout for Obama actaully works in Prop 8’s favor. Funny, in the mid-term election when everyone was registering disgust with Bush by voting Democrat, they were also voting in favor of English as official language, restrictions on affirmative action, expanding gun rights, and several pro-traditional marriage ammendments. It’s almost as if someone were to run as an actual conservative, they’d have success.
October 26, 2008 at 1:46 am
This has greatly encouraged me. You’re absolutely right. When this issue is framed by the effects it will have on our children, it certainly clarifies the importance.
I love how the activists tried to bully the council to no effect. Good for American River College.
October 26, 2008 at 4:52 pm
There’s hope for prop 8 out here in Ca….
October 27, 2008 at 7:19 pm
For what it’s worth, I’ve seen houses here in California with Yes on Prop. 8 signs and Obama signs…
I echo scott w. Here in WI, our marriage amendment passed 60-40 while folks *still* voted for liberal democrats.
Which means, as scott said, someone running as a true conservative could clean up.
Someone on another blog said conservativism is dead.
No…it’s alive and well. Weak-kneed, spineless RINO type conservativism is dying and can’t be gone quick enough.