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

Comments

[Derick B]

This isn't a gimmick. If the platform to preserve and save marriage is the true intention of the religious folks and those who supported Prop. 8, they should not only be in full support but they should've come up with the idea to begin with.

[Ryan Urbaniak]

One question...how many of you that are against this prop. supported prop. 8??? Hypocritical??? YES! Everyone who voted against same-sex marriage deserve to have this imposed on them. Go back and re-read the bible. It is very clear that divorce is forbidden unless there is infidelity and then they may not remarry. Divorce is mentioned many more times throughout and even Jesus, who never spoke out against homosexuality, clearly was against divorce. So, all you fundies out there who think it's nice to deny other people their civil liberties...YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW!

Actually, come to think of it, that should be the new law...if you voted for prop. 8, then you should be forced to adhere to this law...fair is fair.

[Bret]

You guys don't get it. The point is the justification for denying gays and lesbians the same civil rights as others is that it protects institution from corruption by evil homosexuals. Of course all this ignores that the greatest threat to marriage is not gays who want to committ to each other but straight people who get divorced. Adultury also corrupts marriage I'd sign to outlaw that too. Then the ministers can all go to prison.

[Matt]

As a gay man, I will happily sign this petition.

[WhyamInotsurpirsed!]

Divorce is costing us too much? Give me a break. There would be less divorces in this nation if getting married & getting divorced wasn't as easy as buying a pack of gum, if people took the time to get to know each other before they jumped the gun and if people morally understood that divorce should be the very last resort. BUT we should never take that right away. Sounds more like a communist idea to me!

There is too much greed in Cali, too many people marry and divorce for financial reasons. There should be guidlines and requirements that hopeful couples should have to complete before they can get a license to marry, which will make them think long and hard if this is really the right person for them and EVEN then, people sometimes change.

Taking the right to divorce away is not the answer and will have terrible consequences. Fixing the underlying causes to the high rate of divorce would make more sense, but that would mean people would actually have to take responsibility for their own actions... now there's a thought.

[WhyamInotsurpirsed!]

Divorce is costing us too much? Give me a break. There would be less divorces in this nation if getting married & getting divorced wasn't as easy as buying a pack of gum, if people took the time to get to know each other before they jumped the gun and if people morally understood that divorce should be the very last resort. BUT we should never take that right away. Sounds more like a communist idea to me!

There is too much greed in Cali, too many people marry and divorce for financial reasons. There should be guidlines and requirements that hopeful couples should have to complete before they can get a license to marry, which will make them think long and hard if this is really the right person for them and EVEN then, people sometimes change.

Taking the right to divorce away is not the answer and will have terrible consequences. Fixing the underlying causes to the high rate of divorce would make more sense, but that would mean people would actually have to take responsibility for their own actions... now there's a thought.

[Kevin]

For those of you who don't realize this, this was started in response to the passage of prop 8. The people who supported prop 8 claimed they did so because they wanted to "Protect Marriage". Lets see if those people really do believe in protecting marriage, or if they used that as an excuse for their own biggotry.

[Wolf]

Where do I sign the petition ? If the idea to preserve traditional family values was good enough to pass Prop 8 in California, then a proposition to ban divorce should bolster this aim. Divorce is not a traditional family value. What about the vow before God of "till death do we part" ?

[JesusLovesMarriage]

The bible CLEARLY STATES that Jesus CONDEMNS divorce. Divorce is a SIN. Religious Leaders will be committing BLASPHEMY if they do not ENCOURGE their congregations to vote for this proposition!

[JesusLovesMarriage]

The bible CLEARLY STATES that Jesus CONDEMNS divorce. Divorce is a SIN. Religious Leaders will be committing BLASPHEMY if they do not ENCOURGE their congregations to vote for this proposition!

[SeparateChurchandState]

This is poke at the Religious Right for opposing Gay Marriage in defense of the "Sactity of marriage."

Another example for why its important to keep Church and State TRULY separate. If our laws are based on religious morals, how are we better than the Taliban???

[rogmed]

Excellent! I've been joking about this very proposal for years. I want to see the 'sanctity of marriage' hypocrites try to explain why they won't support it.
roger medanich

[Cheutfan]

Folks, this is NOT a "right wing" thing, but a jab AT the ban on gay marriage in California.. a sarcastic bit of wit, ie: If you can determine who can get married to "protect" marriage, than why NOT ban divorce to "protect marriage" also & take away some of the rights of those who chose to take away the right of a person to marry the person they love? Because that's what Prop 8 DID- it allowed people to determine that gay men & women could not make a public commitment of their love, nor become a legally recognized couple in all the states, nor hold the SAME rights as held by married heterosexuals nationwide- so obviously, married heterosexuals get SPECIAL RIGHTS & are designated a privileged group of people, who can buy a home as one entity, enjoy tax benefits as one entity, raise their children without fear, enjoy the right to determine medical decisions for their loved one, burial decisions, allow gay couples to carry their partner on medical, etc, & enjoy over 1000 special rights granted to married heterosexuals over the US... so ban divorse, & we'll protect the "sanctity of marriage" (now at 47% divorce rate) instead of having the usual round of serial monogamy- or if you will, serial polygamy LOL or 24 hour marriages - somehow, that's got more "sanctity" than a 40 year committed gay relationshiop??!!!??? ROFLMAO

Or maybe we need to make getting married harder? or take away some of those special rights heterosexuals get JUST because they ARE heterosexual...
;-D

[Zaydin]

The man starting the petition isn't doing it seriously. It's more of a jab at the hypocrisy of the 'Protect Marriage' crowd. Since they wanted to protect the sanctity of marriage in California by banning gay marriage, they should be gungho for banning divorce, which actually violates the sanctity of marriage, a man and a woman breaking their sacred vows.

[Michael]

Sadly, I think the people that voted Yes on Prop 8 won't see their own hypocrisy when they don't support this.

[Austin divorce lawyers]

Well according to me divorce is the most bad thing because it not only ruins the life but also ruins the family. So i suggest you to all that take care about this. About your post it was really awesome one. Anyways keep it up and keep continue with your valuable thoughts.

[Andrea Martinez]

This is actually a sucker punch for people who voted for Prop 8, (marriage between a man and woman because marriage is so sacred). I heard him talking on the radio and he says that if people want to make marriage between a man and a woman because it is such a sacred thing, then we should ban divorce. After all, divorce is the ultimate evil for marriage. Pretty brilliant if you ask me.

[sarasota lawyer]

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