Cartoon: Gay Marriage and the California Supreme Court

Cartoon by Chan Lowe of The South Florida Sun Sentinel published on 28 May 2009.

This cartoon concerns the recent California Supreme Court decision upholding Proposition 8 as constitutional which amended the California constitution to read that only a marriage between a man and a woman would be valid and recognized in the state of California. Proposition 8 was a referendum added to the ballot in the general elections last November. A majority of Californians voted in favor of Proposition 8. However, in upholding the ban put in place by Proposition 8, the court also ruled that all previous same-sex marriages prior to the ban would still be recognized.

To learn more about the background of this story, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_California

The word amid is another way of saying among.

Righteousness is a noun often used in a religious context to refer to the state of being morally upright and virtuous. It is a term often found in the Bible.

If you nix something, you refuse or say no to it. This word is typically American and is informal. In fact, the origin comes from the German nichts. The opposite of to nix is to ok or to okay something. In the simple past form, we write ok’d. For example, “The bank ok’d my loan for a new car.”

To smite is old word and quite literary to meaning to hit someone or something or have a serious effect on. It is also an irregular verb. The past form is smote such as in the sentence, “She smote him on the back of his head with her umbrella.” The past participle is smitten such as in “They were smitten with terror” or “He was smitten by her charms.”

Dunno is a casual pronunciation of “I don’t know.” This expression has been dated as far back as 1842.

If you say something is tricky we want to say that it is complicated,  uncertain and requires great caution.

In a military attack, we often refer to collateral damage and today we tried to avoid this. Collateral damage is the term used to describe unintentional or accidental harm caused to people or property.