Uganda is a parliamentary democracy. It is also a country where there is significant anti-gay legislation, where the desth penalty for gays was very nearly introduced, and where there is considerable support for such a law. A binding ballot calling for such a law could well be put to the voters in California, and could get passed.

Democracies are quite capable of introducing terrible laws. After all, every anti-gay or anti-black law which has been swept away in countries such as the UK or the USA was introduced in countries which were democracies..
..............
It occurs to me that if a couple of generations back someone had declared that all those who loved each other should be allowed to get married, and someone else had responded pointing out that this implied that people would be able to marry people of the same sex,, there is no doubt but that they would have been attacked in very similar terms as aken, for making a disgusting suggestion.

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From Joe Offer: I found this thread to be very troubling, but I'm not the one who closed it and I don't know which moderator did. It's clear that it was time for it to be closed, however. Religious belief is something personal, not something to be fought about or defended. And when it becomes a subject of combat, people get hurt. It shouldn't have to be that way. There should be room for many ways of thinking, and people should have the freedom to be able to formulate and test their ways of thinking without fear of being attacked.
But this thread was getting worse and worse, so I said my goodbyes a couple days ago and left the thread. I came across a video today that honestly addresses a number of issues addressed in this thread. It's a very thought-provoking presentation, critical of all sides without condemning anyone. I think it's worth your consideration, whatever your thinking might be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TGS-JD80nE
I keep trying to find a quote I heard once from architect Louis Kahn. It goes something like this: Everything everyone says is the truth. It may be their truth, but it is nonetheless the truth. I think that's true here. People said what they think in this thread and told their truth, and some of it was hurtful. I know I got hurt, and that's why I left the thread.
I hope someday we will be able to discuss these things without hurting each other.
I thank the moderator who decided to close this thread. I think it was time.
-Joe Offer-