Calif. Chief Justice: Chickens Gained Rights as Gays Lost Theirs
California Chief Justice Ronald George is criticizing the state referendum process for creating a “dysfunctional” state government and curbing the rights of gay men and women.
George made the comments in a speech on “the perils of direct democracy,” the Associated Press reports. George said voters put state legislators in a “fiscal straitjacket” by requiring a two-thirds vote before taxes may be raised. The result is a “dysfunctional” state government, at least in times of severe economic decline, he said.
George wrote an opinion in May 2008 finding gays have a state constitutional right to marry, and another opinion a year later upholding a voter referendum banning gay marriage, the Sacramento Bee reports.
In his speech, George noted that voters approved Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage on the same day they passed a law governing the confinement of barnyard fowl. “Chickens gained valuable rights in California the same day that gay men and women lost them,” George said.
The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times also covered the speech.
