That is, the States can make marriage laws, but they are constrained to make them under the terms and rights given to the people in the constitution and cannot make laws that deny rights that are specifically granted to the people IN the constitution.

So the idea of gay marriage is NOT at all discussed in the constitution, but neither is the idea that you can totally EXCLUDE a particular group from having that right. The best a state can do is set parameters around a right, based on traits share by ALL individuals. They can set age barriers. You cant get married until the age of. But they cannot set other barriers that deny one group TOTAl access to the legal condition and allow it to others.

By age:
59% of Hispanics age 18-29 voted no; 61% of 18-29-year-olds voted no.
60% of Hispanics age 30-44 voted yes; 55% of 30-44-year-olds voted yes.
57% of Hispanics age 45-64 voted yes; 54% of 45-64-year-olds voted yes.
There was not enough data to compare Hispanics 65 and over to all voters 65 and over.

The average age of ALL Americans is being slowed by two groups. Hispanics and Asians, who have a much younger average age than that of other populations. The median age of Hispanic Americans in the United States is 27.7 years of age. The median age for the ENTIRE population is 36.5 years old. Almost a decade difference between the average age population we are looking at.

This means that HALF of the Latino population in the United States is BELOW 27.7 years of age, and 59 percent of that HALF voted AGAINST prop 8.

There is no way Republicans can somehow twist non support of prop 8 into a plus for their ability to attract Hispanics NOR turn it into an issue that will make them LEAVE the Democratic Party. A rather LARGE chunk of that 64 percent of Democrats who voted against prop 8 (64 percent against it) are Latino.

The Demographic for Latino Democrats since 2004:

Latino voters comprised 30 percent of California Democratic primary voters, an increase of 17 percent from 2004

This growth occured largely in the bottom half of the Hispanic Demographic. That is the part that is BELOW the age of 27.7. and also the portion between 27.7 and 29 years of age.

Simply put the same portion of the Latino vote that is now Democrat rather than Republican voted FOR prop 8. There were not enough Hispanic voters older than 65 to actually COUNT in the prop 8 votes and exit polls.

What is occuring is that the Hispanic vote is slowly abandoning the Republican party as the younger voters register as first time Democrats. Once a party affiliation is established, it is pretty rare that an individual will switch affiliations. This is the reason that California’s share of Democrats is so much larger than at the national average. Younger Hispanics are registering Democrat, voting against conservative issues like abortion and gay marriage, and lets face it, those at the other end of the scale are getting closer to handing over their voting rights to the Grim Reaper.

My favorite is the current Republican judicial blather about having empathy for women who have abortions and how it might effect them later, and so it is necessary to protect women from these emotional consequences by banning the procedure entirely.

Of course, it’s not, and they don’t. But don’t let that stop you!