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What I find absurd in the statement " We let the voters decide and we should respect their decision" is that never before in the history of our country has the majority been given by vote the right of dictating the rights of a minority or others. It has always been the role of the courts to protect the rights of the minority, as they did when they agreed that homosexual couples had the same right to marry as heterosexual couples. Since then they (the courts) have been the target of attacks from religious conservatives labeling them "activist judges." These types of basic rights issues have always been decided by Judges. Imagine if African Americans had to ask the voters to grant them their freedom. Imagine if Women had to ask the voters (all men at the time) to grant women the right to vote. Imagine if an Interracial Couple had to ask the voters to grant them the right to marry. These are all issues that were first decided in the Courts by Judges against the overwhelming opposition of the voting public. Using the same argument then as is being used now, I think it safe to assume that African Americans, Women, and Interracial Couples would still be waiting to win their rights in the voting booth. The moral of the story is that sometimes "the people" don't always know what is correct or fair and shouldn't be given the authority to decide what is or isn't when it pertains to the rights of another.
Google is calling for Proposition 8 opposition support. A post on the Official Google Blog talks about the company's opposition to legislation that eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry. Back in September, Google Co-founder Sergey Brin posted this:
As an Internet company, Google is an active participant in policy debates surrounding information access, technology and energy. Because our company has a great diversity of people and opinions -- Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals, all religions and no religion, straight and gay -- we do not generally take a position on issues outside of our field, especially not social issues. So when Proposition 8 appeared on the California ballot, it was an unlikely question for Google to take an official company position on.
However, while there are many objections to this proposition -- further government encroachment on personal lives, ambiguously written text -- it is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8. While we respect the strongly-held beliefs that people have on both sides of this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality. We hope that California voters will vote no on Proposition 8 -- we should not eliminate anyone's fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry the person they love.
The new post talks about how Google has signed an amicus brief in support of several cases currently challenging Proposition 8 in the California Supreme Court. "Denying employees basic rights isn't right, and it isn't good for businesses," says Google General Counsel Kent Walker. "We are committed to preserving fundamental rights for every one of the people who work hard to make Google a success."
Google wants to make it very clear where they stand on the issue, and obviously has its employees in mind. Google is reaching out for further support.
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