"8 is Not Hate: The Meaning of a Proposition" - Response

Jennifer Roback Morse has an interesting view on Proposition 8: The California Marriage Protection Act.  Her thesis in this editorial is that marriage is meant for a man and a woman because marriage is about procreating and all children should be able to have a relationship with a mother and a father.  And "that isn't hateful towards anyone" (83).  She also believes that the California Supreme Court "has greatly overstepped its bounds" (83) because allowing gays to become legally married contradicts what many religious groups believe in and they made it so that being opposed to same-sex marriage is considered "discrimination".  Morse states that voting yes for Proposition 8 is a way for the ordinary citizen of California to protest.  "They are not saying they hate gay people; they are saying the Court is out of control" (83). 

Obviously this is an extremely controversial topic.  I personally believe that if two people truly love each other they should have the opportunity to become legally married no matter what their sexual orientation.  However, I found Morse's editorial to be very persuasive; not persuasive in the sense that I would vote yes or no for Prop 8, but I thought she made many valid points that helped me understand her point of view and persuaded me to trust her.  I trust that Morse does not hate gay people, but that she struggles to agree with the Supreme Court and has a specific ideal of what marriage should be.  She relies on ethos, the customs, practices, and dominant assumptions of a people, to back up her thesis and appeal to the reader.  She explained that voting yes on Prop 8 has nothing to do with her views of gay and lesbian people, but her view of marriage.  She knows that there are people who dislike and discriminate against gays but that is not at all why she is voting yes.  I believe she valiantly proved to people who are gay that they shouldn't assume those voting yes hate them.  Homosexuality has been around for just about as long as human beings have been on this earth, but the concept of gay marriage is still fairly new.  Morse appealed to her readers' customs and practices by stating that marriage is for mothers, fathers, and children, because that is what they are accustomed to and is easy to accept.  She also relied on logos when discussing that allowing same-sex marriage could cause a lot of legal drama between gays and religious institutions.  Morse writes logically and has a confident voice that makes the reader appreciate her opinion and understand why so many people voted yes for Prop 8.  Considering my personal views on this subject, Morse's editorial really made me stop and think about whether I would've voted yes or no; and that shows how Morse as an author appealed to my sense of logic and emotion.