Ellen Urges California Residents To Vote No On Prop 8

LOS ANGELES — Ellen DeGeneres has made a public service announcement urging California voters to oppose a ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage.

DeGeneres married actress Portia de Rossi on Aug. 16, two months after the California Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage took effect. In recent days, the popular talk show host has been criticized in the gay press for not giving money to the campaign to defeat Proposition 8 or otherwise lending her star presence to the cause.

She still hasn't made a campaign contribution, but on Tuesday she posted a video on her show's Web site. She said when she got married it was the happiest day of her life.

DeGeneres' mother, Betty, has given $700 to help defeat the initiative.

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On the Net:

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/2008/10/prop_8_psa.php

Comments

[Obama4Life]

I still don't feel comfortable about gay marriage sorry Ellen. I'm a democrat but I don't share the democratic popular view of gay marriage and abortion. I don't even know why they were injected into politics in the first place. A civil union is fine with me however.

[JDJase]

If you're fine with civil unions then why not marriage. Neither of them affect YOU in ANY way whatsoever.

[Lemeritus]

Excellent reminder!

[YellowDogInRedCounty]

Sorry hon, it's not about YOUR comfort. It's about equality for all. I pay taxes and should not have to worry about whether my equal rights meet YOUR comfort level.

[sandiegoconservative]

Sure it is. Everything is about someone's comfort level. If we were all about equality, all work would make equal pay, there would not be a difference in neighborhood home prices, car prices, clothing prices, etc. There would not be levels in the tax code. The fact that no one wants to address is that the world is not perfect or equal and because of it, the citizens of California get to decide this one. That is democracy at its highest efficiency. The fact that you pay taxes really does not matter much here.

There is a difference between a civil union and a marriage and I feel pretty much the same way as Obama4Life. For the record, I am voting absentee and will be voting in favor of the proposition, because I am opposed to gay marriage on a personal level. That does not mean I have any dislike or hatred in me. I have relatives who are gay and my best friend is gay as well. I just disagree with them on this issue.

[Obama4Life]

Ellen is hot.

[6bd]

The Republican party has created a wedge issue, when V.P. Cheney has a gay daughter, and Steve Schmitt has a gay sibling Love of family and hiding their truths, pretending to be anti gay. God loves all people.

[buckboard]

I'm an older black man and live in Los Angeles. I have to admit that this is a difficult decision for me. I truly believe in equal rights and fairness for all. Being gay is not a problem, to each his own. My problem is the legal standing that our Supreme Court has forced on all Californians. I know I will vote my conscious and it says fairness to all. If not for current civil rights laws I might now have been able to marry my wife who is of Polish decent. So once again this is going to be a difficult decision.

Older LA black man, you are able to marry your Polish wife not because of current civil rights laws, but because the California Supreme Court ruled in 1948 that banning interracial marriage was unconstitutional. So you are saying that the Supreme Court forced same-sex marriage on Californians, while you benefiting from a ruling by the same court. Bet lots of white Californians in 1948 thought the Supreme Court was wrong when it forced interracial marriage on all Californians.

And by the way, if you don't want to marry another man, the court's opinion isn't forcing you to, any more than their earlier opinion meant that everyone has to marry someone of a different race. How does my being able to finally marry my partner of 20 years affect your marriage?

[Seven7s]

Yeah, the court's opinion isnt forcing anybody to do anything. If you weren't going to marry a peson of the same sex before the ruling you dont have to now LOL

If gay people want to ruin their lives with marriage let them.

[LemonMeringue]

California really should have separate elections for this - on different days, in different years.

[JDJase]

I disagree...Straight people who are okay with gay marriage because it doesn't make a difference to them aren't going to be motivated to go vote just for this issue...however, all the right wing maniacs will be motivated

[YellowDogInRedCounty]

And those "right wing man i acs" would not be voting for Obama anyhow

[Indieguy]

I voted yes on Proposition 22 years ago and I've regreted for years. The true threat to marriage and family is divorce. The TV ads in CA for a YES vote on Prop. 8 are outrageous in their claims of the impact of gay marriage on society.

I'm voting NO on 8.

[GingerB]

Good for you! Equality for every citizen.

Vote NO on Proposition 8!

[DeniseD]

Absolutely!

Did you know that the Mormon church is behind the Yes on 8 push? Why should we allow Mormons to force their beliefs on us? If you know anything about the LDS, you know that they do not teach the same things that we are taught in our Christian churches. Also, Mormon populations have higher incidences of child molestation, rape, and murder of women. Mormons should clean their own house before telling anyone else how to live their lives!

[sandiegoconservative]

None of that is true. Don't believe the hype. At worst, the LDS church is a strong supporter of the amendment, but they are not behind anything.

And there is a big difference between the LDS church and the FLDS groups or other wacko groups, in case you did not know.

[cheferic]

One of the net results of this will unfortunately be the creation of an elitist term -elitist in the view of an equality focus and purist in terms of a traditional focus.There will be this Seussian ' Stars on Thars' mentality where heterosexual marriage will find the need to distinguish itself for one reason or another then in response gay marriage will find the need for equality,then polyandry,polygamy.triads,will all want and most likely deserve the same protections under the law and still there will be a need for a term to distinguish a traditional heterosexual couple.This argument and money drain will go on ad infinitum simply because of "domain name " squabbles -if they just pronounced them a couple with all of the public and domestic rights therein I don't think there would be so much of a problem.I am not opposed to gay marriage ,but I don't have a problem reserving the term marriage for hetero couples and calling gay marriage by another term -I mean gay is another term ,perhaps we need another term for the committed through ceremony gay couple.

[BluePride]

I'm concerned that the Palin-Drone surge will bring out enough right-wingers to pass this. The 'Bradley Effect' was due, I believe, in part because there was an anti-gun initiative on the '82 CA ballot. Huge numbers came out to support its defeat. It was defeated by hundreds of thousands although Bradley only lost by less than 60,000. God, Guns and Gay issues bring 'em out in droves.

3 versions of Obama's Hope and Vision: A Change Is Gonna Come:

Sam Cooke:
http://current.com/items/89406051_obama_08_a_change_is_gonna_come
Patti LaBelle:
http://current.com/items/89408176_obama_2008_a_change_is_gonna_come
The Supremes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDpr8wHdhlQ

[CS1373]

I also am surprised that she says people have raised millions and she has not contibuted to the cause. Is this really true? I'm voting No and I'm from Florida. Florida, Wake Up!

[thefirehorse]

I'm an older black man and live in Los Angeles. I have to admit that this is a difficult decision for me. I truly believe in equal rights and fairness for all. Being gay is not a problem, to each his own. My problem is the legal standing that our Supreme Court has forced on all Californians. I know I will vote my conscious and it says fairness to all. If not for current civil rights laws I might now have been able to marry my wife who is of Polish decent. So once again this is going to be a difficult decision.

[CS1373]

I understand your position on this and appreciate your honesty. I thought about this issue a long time before coming to my decision.And once I did I felt relived; so that indicates to me I made the right choice. No.

[blueskybigstar]

It says in the California constitution that everybody will be treated equally. If you are going to follow the rules, then it is only fair. How is it forced on you? Are they forcing you into a gay marriage?

[cabledave]

The fact that only a few decades ago the amount of pigment in one's skin was used as a basis for scare tactics and mean spirited divisiveness should make your decision a little easier I would think.

My husband and I just got married 2 weeks ago. We pay the same taxes as everyone else and will not settle for anything less than 100% of the rights that every other Californian has.

I would offer this compromise. My husband and I will settle for less rights if we are given a 50% discount on our taxes.

The laws in this country should be based on what is logical and fair & religious beliefs should have absolutely no bearing on whether or not people get civil rights.

[GingerB]

Congratulations! I wish you every happiness. : )

Don't EVER settle for less rights (even jokingly).

[OneEarthling]

>>My problem is the legal standing that our Supreme Court has forced on all Californians.

[MathIsTruth]

It is the job of state Supreme Courts to ensure that no state law is unconstitutional. Gay marriage is not being "forced" on California by their Supreme Court. It is merely that allowing marriage mixed-sex marriages but not same-sex marriages is prohibited by the constitution. The Supreme Court was duty bound to correct the problem.

Pretending that this is some kind of unilateral decision by the Supreme Court is like pretending that a cop with a radar gun is passing out tickets based on speeding laws that he invented.

[blueskybigstar]

She misplaced her checkbook. She's still looking for it. Okay, now where is that pen? Oops. She lost the checkbook again.

[Bitsko]

The dog ate it. Sorry, that was just too easy.

[Bitsko]

I'm with ya on this one, Ellen. Thank god, here in New York state we don't put major civil rights issues like this on the ballot. Looks like this one may be going down in flames, if you can trust the polls.

http://www.washblade.com/2008/9-5/news/national/13198.cfm

[Trofinios]

Why is gay marrige even an issue? It hurts no one and is a great way to confirm one of the best things in life - LOVE. I'm with you Ellen.

[fcsakes]

I don't live in California, but shouldn't human rights belong to everyone equally?

If you're an adult, it's none of my business who you marry as long as it's another consenting adult.

Really, the struggle should be to feed and house human beings who are without, the struggle should be to assure every child has a childhood, and every human a chance for their dream. The struggle should never have to be about *denying* or *allowing* other humans their basic rights....

Who died and made us boss of the world?

[justsaynotofascism]

I'm glad Ellen has done the video, but I'm shocked she hasn't given ANY of her wealth to the NO to Prop. 8.

I'm straight and I've donated twice. Come on Ellen... chip in!

http://www.noonprop8.com/

[Bitsko]

That is kinda weird.

[blueskybigstar]

Why is that weird? If you believe in equality, then you believe in equality.

[JDJase]

thank you for your support