Proposition 8 Ban On Gay Marriage

Sara Havranek quit working five years ago after the birth of her first child. Since then, she said, she and her husband have had to be frugal. "Every cent we spend is carefully considered." But the Aliso Viejo couple consider Proposition 8 so important that they have donated $1,100 to support the initiative to ban same-sex marriage. "Our faith is completely centered around the family. We believe the family is a divine institution," Havranek said to explain the contribution.

With the Nov. 4 election fast approaching, rabbis, priests and ministers across California are ratcheting up their public appeals over Proposition 8 -- using their religious platforms to alternately highlight the perils of passing or rejecting the same-sex marriage amendment. More than a dozen Lutheran ministers are to appear after services today at St.

Speaking out recently against Proposition 8, the proposed constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown made an appeal for the importance of protecting the rights of same-sex couples. And then he urged his audience to vote yes on the proposition. Brown misspoke. He intended to advocate a no vote. But he isn't alone in confusing which side is which.

Tom O'Hare hadn't planned on getting married this month to his partner of 30 years. But then on a recent Saturday he happened upon a street-corner rally in support of Proposition 8, which would amend the state Constitution to allow marriage only between a man and a woman. It suddenly occurred to O'Hare, who lives in Long Beach, that if he didn't get married before election day, he might lose his only shot at matrimony. So on Thursday he drove to West Hollywood and got married.

More than a thousand gay-rights activists gathered Thursday afternoon outside the Mormon temple in Westwood to protest the role Mormons played in passing Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California. It was the latest in an escalating campaign directed against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for its role in marshaling millions of dollars in contributions from its members for the successful campaign to take away same-sex marriage rights.

More than 20,000 protesters spilled into the streets of Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and even Modesto on Saturday in mostly peaceful demonstrations over passage of Proposition 8, the statewide ballot measure that bans same-sex marriage. The unfolding street scenes underscored the racial and religious tensions that have surfaced since Tuesday's vote threw into question the legality of 18,000 marriages of gay and lesbian couples and foreclosed the option for any more.

Forty-three Democratic legislators, including leaders of the California Senate and Assembly, filed a brief Monday urging the California Supreme Court to void Proposition 8. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and incoming President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg signed the friend of the court brief, filed with the state Supreme Court. No Republican legislator signed the petition, though Gov.

From his living room in Leisure World in Seal Beach, Larry Black has watched the anti-Proposition 8 protests on his TV. He's read about the legal challenges to overturn the measure. And he has a thought. "It's ridiculous," said Black, 66. "It's the people's vote. . . . That's the way it should be. That's it." Voters in Orange County passed the measure banning gay marriage last week by a margin of 14 percentage points, a larger victory than statewide.

Employees of the Los Angeles restaurant that came under fire this week after a manager gave $100 to the campaign to ban same-sex marriage in California said they had made a $500 contribution to the advocacy group that is raising money to challenge Proposition 8.

When six of seven members of the California Supreme Court gathered in Berkeley on Friday for a conference on the role of the court, their every facial tic and remark was scrutinized for signs of whether they would vote to overturn Proposition 8.