Last month's suicide of a gay Rutgers University freshman and the subsequent beatings and torture in the Bronx of two teenagers suspected of being gay demonstrate the dangers of measures such as Proposition 8
, a lawyer for opponents of the initiative told a federal appeals court late Monday.
" Incidents such as these are all too familiar to our society," wrote Theodore B. Olson, who is representing two gay couples challenging the 2008 California anti-gay marriage initiative. " And it is too plain for argument that discrimination written into our constitutional charters inexorably leads to shame
, humiliation, ostracism
, fear, and hostility. The consequences are all too often very
, very tragic."
Olson cited the two events
, which occurred days apart
, in written arguments filed with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The court is considering an appeal of a district judge’s ruling that struck down Proposition 8 as unconstitutional.
Olson said the " unmistakable purpose and effect" of Proposition 8 was " to isolate gay men and lesbians and their relationships as separate, unusual, dangerous, and unworthy of the marital relationship."
Olson's arguments referred to the suicide of Tyler Clementi
, 18, who jumped off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate streamed video to the Internet of Clementi in a gay sexual encounter. The other incident a few days later involved an alleged anti-gay attack by a gang in an unoccupied apartment in the Bronx.
-- Maura Dolan
