Constitutional Eye For an Eye
Offline Recently here in Washington state the legislature passed a law nicknamed the "Everything but Marriage" law, extending full marriage rights to homosexuals with the exception of actually calling it marriage. Of course, despite the fact that the bigots claim they only oppose gay marriage, they have begun circulating a petition to get an initiative on the ballot to overturn the legislation.
In response to this a group has organized a website publishing the names of the people who signed the petition. While this is to the best of my knowledge illegal and unconstitutional, it seems fair to me. The people who oppose gay marriage are violating the constitutional rights (First and Fourteenth amendments.) of gay people by pushing their religious morals and lifestyles, and trying to codify discrimination into state laws.
What do you think?
"Faith, Faith is an island in the setting sun,
but proof, proof is the bottom line for everyone."
Proof, Paul Simon
Nothing this hard should taste so beefy.
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They don't make that sort of thing public anyhow? I like transparent things.
Since posting this I heard on NPR that it is a public record. Nevertheless there are plenty of people who feel their rights and privacy are beingimpinged by this. Oh sweet irony. No wonder they don't get Stephen Colbert.
"Faith, Faith is an island in the setting sun,
but proof, proof is the bottom line for everyone."
Proof, Paul Simon
Nothing this hard should taste so beefy.
Me too! No t-shirt quite like a wet t-shirt, as they say...
...Oh. Wait.
That's not what you meant.
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
Well yah, if you sign a petition that is going to be vetted by the government and in support of legislation, then you don't have an expectation of privacy. Don't get me wrong on this, I am a huge advocate of privacy rights. However, when you sign your name and provide an address so that your signature can be legally vetted, then voluntarily abrogate your right to privacy.
There is a flip side to this one as well. Say, for example, that they get not quite enough signatures for what they want. Then they have a huge incentive to add a few names to the list fraudulently. It happens all the time and that is the reason why such documents must be publicly vetted.
So keep an eye on that web site and see if your name comes up. Either that, or the names of your dead relatives, as it is a long standing tradition in American politics to submit votes from the graveyard.
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If I signed a public petition I wouldn't mind the petition being available to the public, even if it was submitted to the gov.
BigUniverse wrote,
"Well the things that happen less often are more likely to be the result of the supper natural. A thing like loosing my keys in the morning is not likely supper natural, but finding a thousand dollars or meeting a celebrity might be."