Yuba board backs Prop. 8

The November ballot measure that defines marriage as between a man and a woman won support Wednesday from the Yuba County Board of Education after a board member linked successful children to having a mother and father in the home.

"As moms and dads go, so go our children," Lou Binninger said in supporting Prop. 8.

Board member Wayne Vincent cited voter support in Yuba County for a similar proposition in 2000 called the "Defense of Marriage Act."

"Our Yuba County citizens, I think, have been overwhelmingly clear in their assertion in support of traditional marriage," Vincent said.

Brownsville resident Buck Weckman, co-chairman in Yuba County for Yes on Proposition 8, spoke in favor of the board action to back the ballot proposition. Weckman said that for centuries marriage has been defined by the same language as Prop. 8.

"It's a license to raise children," he said of marriage.

The proposition reaffirms the status and responsibility of being married, Weckman said.

"We don't want to dilute that responsibility," he said.

"There is a difference between a man and woman," he added, "right down to the DNA and the genes."

The board proclamation won approval by a 6-1 vote, with Sidney Muck abstaining. Also voting in favor were Mary Hovey, Donna Landerman, Marlene Rastetter and George Smith.

Muck said he agrees with the traditional definition of marriage, but added that, "I do not believe this really is within the realm of education."

Weckman said after the vote the support for the November ballot measure is the first such stance by a public agency in Yuba County.

Weckman, who was a trustee for the Marysville Joint Unified School District for 10 years, said that panel has not taken up Prop. 8.

"It's too late to even consider," he said. "I should have done that months ago."

Ali Bay, communications manager for "NO on 8 — Equality California" could not be reached Wednesday following the afternoon vote by the Yuba County education board.

The California Teachers Association has contributed $250,000 toward the No on 8 campaign, according to Equality California, which began in 1998 and is a nonprofit, statewide advocacy organization. The group describes its mission as achieving "equality and civil rights of all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Californians."