…and you’re not dead yet.

Such is the argument made by the folks over at Rescue Marriage, who have authored the 2010 California Marriage Protection Act.  Inspired by the passage of California’s Proposition 8, which was promoted and funded by the Protect Marriage camp to “restore marriage and protect California children,” Rescue Marriage founder John Marcotte realized that truly protecting marriage meant going well beyond limiting its legal status to heterosexuals.

Marcotte sees the primary threat to marriage as the dissolution thereof, and therefore seeks to protect the sanctity of marriage by outlawing divorce in the state of California.

To help get the word out, Marcotte started the Rescue Marriage T-shirt shop so that supporters can show the world that they truly stand behind government-mandated marriage protection.

We spoke with Marcotte, and asked him whether or not he thought this bill would pass.  His answer: “Proposition 8 passed on the grounds that it protects traditional marriage and our children, so I don’t see any reason that this bill – which truly protects marriage by preventing its demise – wouldn’t pass.  I mean, if all the people who voted for Proposition 8 don’t vote for this, they’d be hypocrites.  You don’t think that California voters are hypocrites, do you?”

The Rescue Marriage camp has organized a Wedding March on the Capitol to be held on November 14th, 2009.  The march invites all of us to “Participate in democracy the American way: by shouting angrily, using inflammatory rhetoric and memorizing jingoistic slogans to chant or misspell on signs.”

Whether the people of California will take this next step in preserving traditional marriage has yet to be seen.  Some residents have expressed that banning divorce infringes on their civil rights; to those people, Marcotte says, “Sometimes other people have to give up their rights in order to protect my idea of traditional marriage.”

UPDATE: Rescue Marriage has a new Public Service Announcement to explain the issue:

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The California Supreme Court upheld the passage of Proposition 8, which narrowly passed by California voters in November.  Prop 8 added a clause to the California constitution to define marriage as being between a man and a woman.

The Court did not, however, invalidate the 18,000 same-sex marriages that took place in the window that occurred between the day that the Court overturned the gay marriage ban and the day that the voter-added ballot measure passed.  So if you got married during that time period, no worries: you can keep your gifts and your spouse.

The Court’s ruling was specifically about whether or not California voters had a right to add Prop 8 to the November ballot in the first place.  Prop 8 opponents argued that the ballot measure was a fundamental revision to the constitution.  A constitutional revision, unlike an amendment, requires a 2/3 legislative vote and cannot be decided by popular vote.

On our end, the T-shirts swing heavily in favor of equal rights/gay marriage, and against Proposition 8.  This has always been the trend, and usually the T-shirts are a good crystal ball when it comes to things like votes and popularity contests.  However, because gay marriage is a touchy issue that has involved both politics and religion, it’s not a surprise that the T-shirt design collection swings heavily toward those activists who feel a sense of unjustness and outrage.

Which is to say that a ballot box is much more private than a T-shirt, and it’s to be expected that those in favor of Prop 8 might not want to advertise their position so publicly as those against it.

With Maine following closely in Iowa’s footsteps with a recent gay marriage provision, there are now 5 states and 7 countries (including Canada) in which same-sex couples can legally wed.  Other states have ballot initiatives being debated and various protections already in place; New York governor David Patterson, for example, has called for the legal recognition of same-sex marriages that have occurred elsewhere.

As the gay marriage debate continues in California and elsewhere, we’ll expect to see some new and interesting T-shirts crop up.  So remember: if you have something to say, don’t be afraid to say it with a T-shirt.  And if you prefer a more private form of self-expression, hey – there’s always the thong.

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California’s $42 billion budget defecit has been the subject of bitter partisan bickering, leading to a stalemate between parties that prevented a budget from being passed for 8 months.  The California budget crisis was finally addressed in part with a budget that was finally passed in February.  The budget package includes a mix of spending cuts, tax increases and borrowing plans.

Unfortunately, that budget still falls $6M short of the defecit.

That being the case, Governor Schwarzenegger is now pushing for a May special election that would theoretically prevent a stalemate and defecit like the one currently facing California.  The Governator is pushing for budget reform that includes measures like a spending cap to create a rainy day fund, as well as the ability to borrow from future lottery earnings.

Critics of this election may have an alternate option to just voting “no,” however, thanks to State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano’s AB390.  Ammiano wants to legalize marijuana, and regulate and tax it in the manner of alcohol and tobacco.  California has already legalized medical marijuana.

California is known for being an agricultural state, and as it turns out marijuana is in fact California’s largest cash crop.  The state grows $14B worth of pot a year, which puts the happy cows of California to shame by doubling their revenue contribution.  Revenue from marijuana is also over double the amount of vegetable sales, and nearly 7 times that of grape sales.  This figure does not include the college dorm closet crops, though some would argue that those crops will go the way of bathtub gin once weed becomes more widely and legally available.

Legalizing marijuana isn’t a new topic with T-shirt makers ’round these parts; in addition to the NORML shop we have thousands of other opinions on the matter, with most favoring legalization.

Analysts say that Ammiano’s measure would provide California with an estimated $1 billion in tax revenue a year; NORML estimates that this figure is between $1.5 and $2.5 billion.  Whatever figure you believe, it’s clear that the revenue from a statewide cannibis tax is nothing to sneeze… er, cough at.

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California made headlines today when the Supreme Court overturned the gay marriage ban.

The timing is an echo of the period leading up to the 2004 election, when San Francisco legalized gay marriage and started a fevered national dialogue over the issue.

While we’ve always had a healthy amount of gay/lesbian merchandise, 2004 was the year that we really saw an explosion of content around the gay marriage debate, with both pro and anti-gay marriage designs flooding into the system.

At present, the gay marriage and civil union supporters are out-dressing the anti gay marrige folks in numbers; the gay marriage vs. anti gay marriage search is 107,000 vs. 18,000.

An interesting sidenote is the “family values” search, which would indicate that those on both sides of the gay marriage debate are claiming family values as part of their cause.

Will California’s controversial ruling cause another frenzied national debate on the issue that affects the coming election?

Time (and T-Shirts) will tell…

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