When Americans voted in November, they unwittingly opened a Pandora’s Box of legal precedent.

Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage, passed with a 52 percent majority in California.

Now many Californians want Proposition 8 overturned. According to a Feb. 3 article from the Bay Area Reporter, California Attorney General Jerry Brown recently filed a brief to “invalidate” Proposition 8 based on the argument that citizens cannot vote to overturn “inalienable rights.”

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender/Transsexual community also filed a brief citing the California legislature should have reviewed Proposition 8 before citizens voted on the matter. Due to different arguments, the legal future of Proposition 8 is highly uncertain right now.

“I really don’t know where this is going to go,” said Marge Cook, director of the NIU LGBT resource center.

While the debate over same-sex marriage often intertwines with religious belief, Cook sees the matter as a legal issue.

“There are those who argue this is freedom of religion, there are those who argue this is a legal matter,” said Cook. “Personally, I think it’s a legal matter and not an issue of religious opinion.”

While certain churches and denominations have recently condoned same-sex marriage, those marriages are not granted legal recognition from the government. In essence, a church can choose to marry a same-sex couple, but the government will not recognize the marriage.

Instead of being a matter of same-sex rights, the debate may be about the separation of church and state.

“I have advocated that the solution to this issue is for our government to get out of the marriage business all together,” Cook said.

People who do not live in California, however, may not be concerned with Proposition 8, but citizens nation-wide should be concerned how California’s judges settle this dispute. If Proposition 8 stands, other bills limiting individual rights can be proposed in other states.

Proposition 8 goes beyond a discussion over same-sex marriage.

Forty-eight percent of voters were against Proposition 8 when it passed. Obviously a strong majority was not in support of the measure, but that was enough to change California’s constitution. Shouldn’t legal matters like Proposition 8 have more debate to them?

While Proposition 8 was approved in a democratic vote, it ignored other key elements of the democratic process. Discussion, debate and compromise are necessary before hasty voting takes place. Legal decisions that shape constitutional law and limit the rights of citizens should never be determined by a slight majority.

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