It is quite ironic that the state that introduced the practice of no-fault divorce to the country and forever changed marriage would want to stop divorce entirely. Here’s a quick history lesson for all of you, in 1970, State Assemblyman Jim Hayes of Long Beach was going through a nasty divorce. To make life easier for people like himself he introduced a bill, which resulted in the nation’s most progressive no-fault divorce law.
The first full year of the no-fault law, the state registered a record 112,942 divorces, a 28 percent increase from just the year before. To put that number in perspective consider that, in 1960, there had been only 105,352 marriages in California. By 1980, embarrassed by the divorce plague in their midst, California lawmakers implemented a quick fix of world class caliber: they would no longer keep or publish statistics.
Anyway, now RescueMarriage.org, has proposed an amendment would change California’s constitution, to eliminate the ability of married couples to get divorced. They could, however, still seek an annulment. Its not on the ballot yet and would require 700,000 signatures to get an up or down vote.
The measure is being pushed by those who support gay marriage to make a point to those who argued for Proposition 8 last year. Remember those people saying that gay marriage should be banned because it ruins the sanctity of marriage and the family unit? Well this campaign is a direct, and hilarious, response to them. I think I’m more excited for the opposition’s response than anything.
