Earlier this decade, a sizeable portion of California citizens voted that they wanted marriage to stay defined as between a man and a woman. After that vote was overturned by four judges back in May of this year, proponents of traditional marriage managed to get enough signatures to bring the issue to a vote on Nov. 4. Once again last Tuesday, the passage of defining marriage as that between a man and a woman passed in California by some 500,000 votes, according to the most recent available numbers. And what are same-sex couples doing about this? Once again, they’re trying to throw out the majority’s vote and tie up the issue in court. Didn’t we go through this circus once before? Several legal groups filed a writ petition last week with the state Supreme Court, urging the invalidation of Prop 8. The petition claims that Prop 8 is invalid because the initiative process was improperly used in an attempt to undo the Constitution’s core commitment to equality for everyone by eliminating a fundamental right from just one group: lesbian and gay Californians. Spending for and against Prop 8 hit $74 million, making it the most expensive social-issues campaign in the nation’s history and the most expensive campaign this year outside the race for the White House. For those that argue that influences outside of California got Prop 8 passed by a major funding of the measure, outside groups were equally supportive in contributing to No on 8. So while it looks like the Prop 8 vote is going to hold in favor of those banning same-sex marriage, gays and lesbians now want to tie the issue up in court for a second time. Whatever happened to majority rule? Should we now contest every race whose outcome we don’t like? I voted for John McCain and Sarah Palin, but my side lost, so I will live with the decision. Should I run down to the nearest courthouse and complain each time a vote doesn’t go my way or that of millions of others? What is the sense of having an election in the first place if we don’t want to live with the results? Why not just have judges who have political agendas make decisions for us then? Many of us who supported Prop 8 have no issue with making sure same-sex couples are entitled to the same medical care, insurance and other rights that heterosexual couples have. We just draw the line at redefining marriage. If we don’t draw the line, then what is to stop those who practice and support polygamy in California from wanting a legal marriage certificate? Would we also change the laws to allow males to marry females under 18 without parental consent? Redefining marriage as anything other than that between an adult male and an adult female opens the barn door to myriad issues. Two votes, similar outcomes. As a supporter of Prop 8, I hope this is the end of this issue. If it is not, I’m prepared to defend my belief that many others in this state and nationwide have. We’re not the bigots you may think we are. We’re just a sizeable portion of the population who believe in the traditional values we were raised with. And for that, I do not apologize. — Dave Thomas is a freelance sports writer whose views do not necessarily reflect those of the paper.