The Informant

Martin Labar

Imperial County, CA

The Chron dispatched a reporter down to Imperial County recently and the subsequent writeup in the paper today feels right out of a safari journal–a safari, that is, to the other side of California’s same-sex marriage debate. (Just as a preview, the article involves cowboy boot references, Biblical invocations, and a gay boxer.)

Imperial County, for those who’ve never heard of it, is the furthest corner of the enormous desert that spans the southeast quarter of the state. While the county’s profile has traditionally been pretty low, the sparsely populated nook is drawing more and more attention these days because of its potential role in halting gay marriage in California. The county’s involvement in the Proposition 8 lawsuit is one big question mark going into the appeal process.

While San Francisco County was permitted to join the group of plaintiffs suing to kill the same-sex marriage ban, Imperial County–which voted 69.7 percent in favor of the measure–attempted to join Prop 8′s legal defenders. As the fight goes to the 9th Circuit, Prop 8′s backers think that Imperial County could give them the necessary standing to carry the case forward.

The county has thus far been spurned by the courts and has not been permitted to intervene. The reasoning? That they have no real stake in the outcome of the case–that they’re a county, and counties have no jurisdiction over marriage policy. Meanwhile, Governor Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown are taking no ownership over Proposition 8 and say they won’t defend the proposition in court. So as far as the courts are concerned, the state of California is against its own law.

But what is a state really? Or more accurately, why is a state a state? That’s probably a more cultural question than a legal one, but it comes up a lot in California, where we seem to have an ongoing identity crisis due to our massive size and diversity. As this Chron piece makes clear, the differences between San Francisco County and Imperial County extend far beyond being on different sides of the Prop 8 court case.

For one, Imperial County is just over 77 percent Latino, compared to San Francisco’s 14.4 percent. Latinos, incidentally, were a key demographic that the anti-Prop 8 campaign targeted heavily in the run-up to the 2008 elections and ultimately failed to win over. Imperial County is also (anecdotally) more religious.

Similar to San Francisco, the county feels it has a stake in the outcome of the Proposition 8 case and a right to appear in court. (San Francisco, before taking up the argument that they have a financial stake in gay marriage, had also been shut out of taking up Prop 8 in court.) And both counties believe that they represent the best interests of California and to some extent, the most democratic interest of California. Imperial County voted with (and above) the majority of Californians in passing Proposition 8; San Francisco County has been a leader in California’s civil rights tradition. So which represents the true California?

To some extent these things get sorted out through elections, and each side of this particular cultural divide seem to have a candidate for Governor. Jerry Brown says he will not defend Proposition 8; Meg Whitman says she would. Now that voters have had a chance to digest and re-digest the arguments for and against Proposition 8, they could theoretically choose their candidate based on how much they care about either side of the issue.

But what the Chron article made clear is that this question of whether or not Prop 8′s backers will be able to appeal their case is more loaded than simply being a legal technicality: each county, and each side, fundamentally wants to be heard. With that in mind, would allowing the two sides to duke it out in court over the merits of the case ultimately be better? Would it help us, after this cultural battle is over, to better get along?

Imperial County at a glance

Estimated population, 2009: 166,874

People per square mile, 2000: 34.1 (Statewide: 217.2)

Hispanic or Latino: 77.3 percent

White: 15.8 percent

Black: 4.2 percent

Other: 2.7 percent

Unemployment, July 2010: 30.3 percent (Statewide: 12.8 percent)

Median household income, 2008: $36,894 (Statewide: $61,017)

People living below poverty level, 2008: 21.5 percent (Statewide: 13.3 percent)

Voters registered Democrat: 52.1 percent

Voters registered Republican: 26.7 percent

Vote in 2008 presidential election: 62.3 percent Barack Obama, 36.1 percent John McCain