This election season, Californians have many issues to consider and cast a vote on. Many of these measures stand to reshape the landscape of our culture, perhaps the greatest of which is Proposition 8, which hopes to ban gay marriage and put this issue to rest once and for all.

This is not the first time the state of California has seen this measure. In May of 2000, it appeared on ballots in the form of Prop 22 and passed when more than 4 million Californians voted and 61 percent of the vote wrote in our law books: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” End of story.

Or so we thought. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has since then not only condoned the illegal activity of gay marriages taking place, but he encouraged others to go forward in this same illegal manor. Now if you will turn with me in your dictionary to the T’s.., Tr’s.., Tre’s?, oh! There he is! Mayor Gavin Newsom’s mug shot is right next to the word “treason.” This whole situation could have been quickly resolved and the law upheld, but we saw shockingly little response from the powers that be when Newsom spit in the face of our democracy. Mr. Governator, care to comment? Mr. President, a call to action perhaps? But ?nothing. Epic fail guys. Truly epic fail.

In May, the state Supreme Court completely ignored the will of those 4 million people and, as if our definition of marriage never existed, those seven justices donned the mantel of the legislative branch and rewrote the law books for us.

And now we have Prop 8. Yet another sink of time, money and energy that is necessary to defend ourselves from domestic terrorists.

Now, contrary to what you might believe, I in no way oppose gay rights. We all have freedoms and make decisions on how we live our lives, and if two people of the same sex are living and functioning together in a capacity similar to that of the traditional family, they should be accommodated in a similar fashion as well. However, marriage is not the appropriate vehicle to do this.

We need to strongly consider our First Amendment right, the freedom of religion, as well as the idea of separation of church and state. In recent history, separation of church and state has been discussed frequently and used as an argument to take any resemblance of religion out of our legal system. Despite the fact that this is a grave misuse from the concept’s original intent, it is time we apply this idea appropriately.

Marriage wasn’t created by a government agency; it is a holy union that was borrowed directly from religious establishments. For this reason the state should keep itself separate from the church and respect the fact that Christianity defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. If this isn’t sufficient for the people, then it is time to draft a new type of union that will not interfere with one’s freedom of religion.

Vote yes on Prop 8 and send the message to our legislators that it is time for them to do their job: Draft a bill that will not infringe upon our rights and freedoms.

Andrew McFadden can be reached at [email protected]