LAT's Steve Lopez is the voice of reason, not

LAT columnist Steve Lopez wrote a column recently in which he defended a woman who had contributed to the pro-Prop. 8 campaign in a small way and later was harassed by gays for her contribution. Today, Lopez writes that he has taken a lot of guff for that column but doesn't regret it, first because lots of people read that column (and that is a measure of how secure Lopez's job is) and second because he's the voice of reason.

Ordinarily, this old fool doesn't read Lopez because his column is mostly trash. The column on Prop. 8 is the exception.

In the original column, Lopez took the position that the lady who got harassed had a right to contribute and vote any way she chose and that that's a basic right. Lopez is right about that right.

But today Lopez suggests that people who supported Prop. 8 and who are opposed to gay "marriage" are bigots or worse (religious) or both. To prove his point, Lopez quotes Voltaire: "Prejudices are what fools use for reason." Fools seem unreasonably inclined to call people (especially religious people) bigots and homophobes.

Same-sex couples in civil unions in California have the same rights as heterosexual married couples. That they do not in other states is not an issue that Californians can decide, either by popular vote or judicial fiat.

The California Supreme Court last May voted 4 to 3 to declare unconstitutional a proposition that California's voters had approved by a wide margin. By approving Prop. 8, voters overruled the Supreme Court and amended the Constitution, which was their right.

Lopez and others argue that the Prop. 8 campaign was "ugly" or unfair or untruthful or bigoted or illegal or unconstitutional or whatever. But the behavior of gays and their supporters following the election has been worse by a magnitude of 10 or 20. That behavior is not productive. It does not make gays look good. It makes them appear vindictive, unreasonable, despicable.