While the marriage amendment passed in California with 52 percent approval, those opposing it made their views known even before the votes were counted.
A window was broken at M
essiah Lutheran Church, Downey, Calif., sometime between 10 p.m. on the eve of the election and 8 a.m. on election day.
Rev. Michael Hayes, pastor at Messiah, told Reporter that someone used a “Yes on 8” sign along with another object to break an office window. The sign had been on a street corner near the church.
“Ironically, these signs were all over the city of Downey and the perpetrator would not have known whether we put the sign on the corner or someone else,” Hayes wrote in an e-mail.
Pacific Southwest District President Larry Stoterau found it “disturbing” to see the public protests following the passage of Proposition 8. “Our electoral process allows the citizens to speak and then expects acceptance of the vote of the people,” Stoterau said. “I am especially disturbed that one of the churches in the Pacific Southwest District was the victim of vandalism that may be related to the election.”
The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights have asked the California Supreme Court to invalidate Proposition 8. According to the Associated Press, gay-rights groups said they may ask California voters to overturn the ban on same-sex marriage if these legal challenges are unsuccessful.
Organized protests against the passage of the amendments were held in cities in many states over the Nov. 15-16 weekend, including Florida, where the amendment received 62 percent approval, and Arizona, where 55 percent of voters gave approval.
Posted Nov. 20, 2008
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