First California banned gay marriage. Next up: banning divorce!

The backer of a proposed initiative that would ban California couples from getting divorces has been OK’d to start collecting signatures.

If 694,354 registered voters sign in favor of putting the constitutional amendment on the ballot by March 22, 2010, it will be up for a vote next November. The measure “Changes the California Constitution to eliminate the ability of married couples to get divorced in California” but maintains “the ability of married couples to seek an annulment.”

The vote, if it makes it to the ballot, would come roughly two years after California famously passed Prop. 8, banning same-sex marriage after it had been briefly legalized by the California Supreme Court.

What infuriates me about the measure isn’t necessarily the idea itself (although it’s insulting enough – I don’t support wearing Ugg boots and mini skirts in combination, but that doesn’t mean it should be codified as illegal under the Constitution). No, what’s maddening is that the notion of banning divorce is likely to be met with resounding disapproval, when banning marriage for certain couples was met with just enough approval to become law.

Divorce is nasty. I wish it never happened to anyone. Marriage, though, is wonderful, and represents so much about our priorities and the way we organize our lives. When the California Supreme Court initially legalized gay marriage, it wrote: “the substantive right of two adults who share a loving relationship to join together to establish an officially recognized family of their own … constitutes a vitally important attribute of the fundamental interest in liberty and personal autonomy that the California Constitution secures to all persons for the benefit of both the individual and society.”

California is currently wrestling with the very way it’s governed – and many think that obtaining ridiculous constitutional amendments like this one is too easy.

I don’t think anyone would argue with the general sentiment that individual circumstances notwithstanding, marriage is generally good for society, and divorce is generally bad. So what does it say about us that we’re likely to cling to our freedom to get divorced, while denying many the ability to get married?