“Their tone, tactics and rhetoric are disturbing”

California Catholic Daily ^ | July 31, 2007

[monomaniac]

“Their tone, tactics and rhetoric are disturbing”

California’s bishops back two of three proposed marriage-protection initiatives

The California Catholic Conference, which represents all bishops and dioceses in the state, has decided not to support the toughest marriage-protection initiative now circulating among voters, but will co-sponsor two less stringent proposals.

All three initiatives are proposed amendments to the state constitution and have been approved by the attorney general. In order to qualify for the June 2008 ballot, each initiative requires signatures from 694,354 registered voters.

VoteYesMarriage.com, a project of the Campaign for California Families, is circulating the initiative the California Catholic Conference refuses to support. The attorney general has assigned the title “Marriage. Elimination of Domestic Partnership Rights” to the initiative. The measure would not only restrict marriage in California to one man and one woman, but would also void domestic partnership rights previously adopted by the state legislature.

"We do not work with them as their tone, tactics and rhetoric are disturbing," Carol Hogan, Pastoral Projects and Communications director for the California Conference told the Tidings, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, in a story published July 27. "Their initiative -- which 'defines' what a man is and what a woman is, and which rescinds domestic partnership -- is also facing fund-raising challenges."

But, according to the Tidings, the California Catholic Conference will co-sponor the other two initiatives, one which enshrines in the constitution that marriages in California must be between one man and one woman, and the other which also includes the one-man, one-woman definition of marriage, but which adds, “the amendment shall not affect the rights, benefits and obligations conferred by California law on other domestic relationships.”

[Thommas]

Hmmm. One might want to read the full initiative before signing any petition.