Ban divorce? Ballot effort gets OK to gather signatures
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen today authorized the backer of an initiative that would ban divorce to begin collecting signatures to put the proposed constitutional amendment before voters.
John Marcotte now has until March 22, 2010, to collect 694,354 signatures of registered voters in order to get the measure on the ballot next year. The proposal would change the California Constitution to "eliminate the ability of married couples to get divorced in California."
Couples could still get their marriages annulled under the proposal.
Here is the official text of the initiative:
ELIMINATES THE LAW ALLOWING MARRIED COUPLES TO DIVORCE. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Changes the California Constitution to eliminate the ability of married couples to get divorced in California. Preserves the ability of married couples to seek an annulment. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Savings to the state of up to hundreds of millions of dollars annually for support of the court system due to the elimination of divorce proceedings.
--Jessica Garrison
EDITOR'S PICKS:
sick.
Posted by: julie | October 23, 2009 at 08:23 PM
I hope this initiative gets placed on the ballot, it's about time! All I hear from the homophobes who are against gays getting married is that marriage is "sacred". Let's see how fast they will rally to support this proposal to protect a "sacred" institution, one that they so readily want to deny to one particular group of people.
Posted by: Against Hypocrisy | October 23, 2009 at 08:36 PM
Amen! Jesus said clearly that divorce is wrong. Let's all work hard to get this passed so that everyone in California will follow the law of the LORD.
Posted by: Jim | October 23, 2009 at 08:43 PM
Of course you won't see this becoming law as the people who voted on Prop 8 are a bunch of hypocrites.
Posted by: Alex | October 23, 2009 at 08:53 PM
Excellent use of resources. Really, the biggest problem our state faces is divorce, right? Also good to spend time, effort, money and paper and ink to put an initiative on the ballot that has zero chance of winning. Great. Great thinking there. (/end heavy sarcasm)
Posted by: Nikki | October 23, 2009 at 08:56 PM
That is ridiculous, where is our state headed? Don't our congressmen have better things to do than try to ban marriage? Really??
Posted by: John Muller | October 23, 2009 at 09:06 PM
I'll sign it. What great idea.
Let's see the 'sanctity of marriage' crowd go silent on this issue.
Posted by: Dirk | October 23, 2009 at 09:10 PM
Say no to the evangelical conservative agenda to hijack the California government. We need to take a stand and stop the right wing-sponsored government encroachment into citizens' private lives. First, they mandate who private citizens can and can't marry; now, they wish to take away private citizens' choice to divorce.
Democrats and Republicans need to realize that the religious right is not not the voice of the people, but the voice of the few seeking to impose their will upon the majority. Democrats need to make it abundantly clear that tolerance is the order of the day. Republicans need to realize that to continue courting the religious right is to betray the core Republican value of less government and more individualism.
To let these people usurp the legitimacy of the democratic Republic of California is to establish a totalitarian state indistinguishable from the Islamic Republic of Iran, Soviet Russia, and the Third Reich; it is a slap in the face to our Founding Fathers.
Say no today to government intrusion into the arena of private life. Say yes to the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Let this be a call to arms for all Californians and Americans.
Posted by: Blithe | October 23, 2009 at 09:26 PM
Divorce hurts the sanctity of marriage. If you're against gay marriage, you should also be against heterosexual divorce. To be otherwise is hypocritical.
Posted by: Edie Bex | October 23, 2009 at 09:28 PM
It would be interesting to get the backstory on this initiative. Who's behind it; who's financing it; when did the petition drive start. Why has it received so little attention from the media?
Posted by: apple1 | October 23, 2009 at 09:38 PM
I apologize. I rushed through the article without giving it a good read first. A second read, and clicking on the link would have been a good idea before making the first post.
Posted by: apple1 | October 23, 2009 at 09:40 PM
This has got to be some sort of joke. You can't force two people to stay married. If they want to REALLY accomplish something meaningful and just, end the constant and persistent victimization and exploitation of men in the California courts by eliminating the concept of marital community property or allow infidelity as a cause for termination of a marriage, with loss of rights to property acquired during the marriage, alimony, and child custody privileges for the one found to have engaged in infidelity.
Posted by: Tom | October 23, 2009 at 09:40 PM
A great idea, with a few additions. Add pre marriage counceling before marriage, make adultery illegal and make that (adultery the only cause for divorce.
Posted by: Coach | October 23, 2009 at 09:53 PM
Are you kidding???
Posted by: davevanfunk | October 23, 2009 at 09:59 PM
This guy is more than a few blocks off Main Street. His elevator isn't making it to the top floor. The kiln wasn't hot enough when God fired him...
Shaking my head...
Posted by: Ambergris | October 23, 2009 at 10:03 PM
I will actually vote in favor of this. It will press the legal point of Prop 8 being nothing more than a religiously driven withholding of basic rights. If gays can't marry because it offends some people's religion, it makes perfect sense that the rest of us can't divorce because it offends religious beliefs.
Posted by: Tara C Woods | October 23, 2009 at 10:28 PM
Unconstitutional. Freedom of religion means I don't have to follow your asinine religious ideas.
Posted by: James | October 23, 2009 at 10:28 PM
Bet anyone $20 that those pro-Prop 8 people so bent on preserving the "sanctity of marriage" wouldn't dare vote for this initiative.
I'd be willing to sign this guy's petition to find out.
Posted by: ryan | October 23, 2009 at 10:29 PM
Bet anyone $20 that those pro-Prop 8 people so bent on preserving the "sanctity of marriage" wouldn't dare vote for this initiative.
I'd be willing to sign this guy's petition to find out.
Posted by: ryan | October 23, 2009 at 10:29 PM
LA Dodgers' owners Jaime and/or Frank McCourt better hurry up.
Posted by: SoCal Baseball Lover | October 23, 2009 at 10:39 PM
Another reason I'm happy I escaped California. Is everyone losing their minds?
Posted by: JackofNoTrades | October 23, 2009 at 10:40 PM
Don't these lawmakers have anything better to do with their time? It's time to flush congress NOW...
Posted by: Jennifer Mavens | October 23, 2009 at 10:42 PM
I'm all for saving the state hundreds of millions of dollars, but how, exactly, would division of assets and child custody issues be addressed? What is the alternative plan?
Posted by: Karen | October 23, 2009 at 10:49 PM
It sounds like a mighty nice gesture and quite a romantic notion, but honestly I doubt if this would ever pass after one thinks about. Getting an annulment in California isn't easily granted either. Good luck though. :O
Posted by: DorothyDee | October 23, 2009 at 10:50 PM
Praise the Lord! It's about time that the half of our citizens who wish to "protect the sanctity of marriage" put their money with their mouths have been. [wink wink]. Alas, this initiative will go down in not-so-proverbial flames and the "pious" and "righteous" can spend Sunday explaining their hypocrisy to God.
Posted by: Jay | October 23, 2009 at 10:54 PM