Wording Change in Prop. 8
CALIFORNIA – The California secretary of state changed the language in the ballot initiative called Proposition 8, intended to overturn the state’s Supreme Court ruling legalizing the marriage of same sex couples.
Originally, the November ballot initiative read, “[Proposition 8] amends the California Constitution to provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”
The new wording states that the initiative “Changes California Constitution to eliminate right of same-sex couples to marry.”
The new changes also explain that a ban on same-sex marriages could prevent the state from gaining tens of millions of dollars in potential sales revenue.
Some activists say the change in language could help defeat the passing of the legislation because it directly spells out the removal of a right. Waymon Hudson at Bilerico.com notes that some polls have shown that changing the language to denote the removal of rights can add up to 10 percentage points to the “no” votes.
"This is a campaign that's important to the entire country, not just California," said Brad Luna, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign at a San Francisco fundraising campaign against Proposition 8. "The result will have effects across the United States."
Results from the California Field Poll survey released earlier in the week found that 51 percent of voters say they will vote against Proposition 8, while 42 percent of voters say they support the amendment. If rewording Proposition 8 can gain 10 percentage points on the “no” side it can only help the cause.
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