Claims: “Remember the way Americans passed this law, it wasn’t the Congress because America started Proposition 18 from California and Proposition 18 from California meant that the whole state had to vote YES or NO for LGBT and the first time the state voted NO. So when people sit here and say Americans like LGBT, it is not every American who agrees to LGBTQ.”
Professor Enoch Opoku Antwi made these comments when he appeared on TV3’s political analysis programme The Key Points on Saturday, March 9, 2024.
Result: The comments by Prof. Antwi appeared misleading. Proposition 18 in the state of California would allow 17-year-olds to vote in primary and special elections if they turn 18 by the subsequent general election. However, Proposition 8 amended the state constitution on same-sex marriages in 2008.
Enoch Antwi provides insight on how LGBTQ was legalized in the U.S.A#TheKeyPoints pic.twitter.com/vKC0wijvyC
— #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) March 9, 2024
Further details:
On December 7, 2012, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear several federal appeals court decisions on same-sex marriage, including one that overturned a portion of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and another that invalidated California’s Proposition 8, a ballot measure passed in 2008 that amended the state’s constitution to prohibit gay marriage.
Read also: Not all Americans support homosexuality – Prof Antwi
According to the Pew Research Center, the Supreme Court’s decision comes just a month after voters in three states—Maine, Maryland, and Washington—approved ballot initiatives legalizing same-sex marriage. On the same day, Nov. 6, 2012, voters in Minnesota rejected an attempt to add language to the state’s constitution banning gay marriage.
Proposition 18
Amends the California Constitution to permit 17-year-olds to vote in primary and special elections if they will turn 18 by the next general election and be otherwise eligible to vote. Legislative Constitutional Amendment.
Yes/No Statement
A YES vote on this measure means: Eligible 17-year-olds who will be 18 years old by the time of the next general election may vote in the primary election and any special elections preceding the general election.
A NO vote on this measure means: No one younger than 18 years of age may vote in any election.
Proposition 8
California voters approved Proposition 8, also known as Prop 8, a state ballot initiative, at the November 4, 2008, statewide election.
Proposition 8 added a new section to the state constitution, which provides that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”
The day after the election, three lawsuits challenging Prop. 8 were filed directly in the California Supreme Court, according to California courts.
In the order accepting the cases for review, the Supreme Court also denied a request to stay the operation of Proposition 8 pending the court’s resolution of the cases, granted the motion of the official proponents of Proposition 8 to intervene in the action, and established an expedited briefing schedule.