Although voters approved Prop 8 in 2008, lower courts have been divided about its constitutionality.  Now the Supreme Court is poised to weigh in on the gay marriage ban.

The high court should strike down Prop 8.  The arguments against same-sex marriage are weak.  Gay couples deserve the same rights as other Americans, including the right to wed.  And this case matters to Latinos, because all Hispanics benefit from protection against discrimination.

The Prop 8 lawyers maintain that traditional marriage “advances society’s vital interest in responsible procreation and child rearing.”  But many people get married who cannot have children, or chose not to have them.  If we only sanctioned marriage between those who can “procreate,” then senior citizens and infertile couples would not be allowed to wed.  Besides, marriage is not necessarily about having children; it is about love and commitment.

The Prop 8 lawyers say that changing the definition of marriage will harm society.  However, we have redefined marriage before, for the better.  Forty-six years ago, in Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court struck down a state law that barred interracial marriage.  Making marriage more inclusive does not harm anyone.  Allowing same-sex couples to wed will actually strengthen society, because it will promote stable unions.

At the oral argument for the Prop 8 case, Justice Antonin Scalia said, “There’s considerable disagreement among sociologists as to what are the consequences of raising a child in a single-sex family, whether that’s harmful or not.”  In fact, there is not any such disagreement.  The scholarly consensus is that children with gay parents do as well as other kids.  All of the major experts in child welfare, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Association of Social Workers, and the American Psychiatric Association support the right of same-sex couples to wed.

What’s more, there is sound constitutional basis for striking down Prop 8.  It violates the due process rights of same-sex couples, because it denies them the right to marry while not furthering a legitimate state interest.  It violates the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, because it singles same-sex couples out for unequal treatment under the law.

If the Supreme Court upholds Prop 8, it risks being out of step with a society that is increasingly accepting of same-sex marriage.  Consider that when Prop 8 was on the ballot, it was supported by a slight majority of California’s Latino voters.  Yet today a majority of Latinos support marriage equality.

Same-sex marriage is important to the Latino community because family is important to the Latino community. Consider that Hispanic same-sex couples are raising children at three times the rate of white Americans, according to the Census. Many Hispanic civic organizations, celebrities, and religious leaders support same-sex marriage.

True, there are Americans who do not support same-sex marriage due to their religious beliefs.  They are entitled to their convictions, just as same-sex couples are entitled to the same legal rights, recognition, and protection as other citizens. As activist Dolores Huerta recently wrote in an Op-Ed for NBC Latino, “Whether it’s our hijos or hijas, hermanos or hermanas, or tíos and tías, we believe in the same freedoms for everybody, no matter who you are or whom you love.”

Prop 8 deserves to fall because it advances no legitimate state interest and runs counter to constitutional principles.  Latinos and other Americans will benefit from a decision in favor of civil rights for all.

NBC Latino contributor Raul A. Reyes is an attorney and member of the USA Today Board of Contributors.

Felix received a kidney transplant from a complete stranger through a kidney donation chain program.

“I had mixed feelings about this transplant, I didn’t want to get let down at the end, as it got closer, I saw this was actually going to happen, my appreciation grew,” says Felix.

Felix had been suffering from kidney failure since he was 22 years old.  He received a kidney transplant, from his brother that lasted him 13 years, but two years ago it began to fail him. His doctors told him the wait for a kidney transplant was seven to ten years with dialysis. Deanna Felix, Felix’s ex-wife, decided to donate her kidney to Felix, but was incompatible and unable to donate to him.

“I was in an emotional state, I was devastated, it was hard to hear that you are looking at seven to ten years of dialysis, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to do it,” said Felix.

Dr. Jeffery Veale is the director of the Kidney Transplant Exchange Program at UCLA Medical Center and Felix’s transplant surgeon. He runs a chain donation program. The chain begins when a person decides to donate their kidney to a person that they do not know. The kidney is then donated to a person who has an incompatible family member willing to donate their kidney to another person.

“It just starts with one person that wants to give an organ to another person, just because,” said Felix.

Felix was able to meet his altruistic donor, Karen Willis, two days after the surgery was performed. He says he has a great relationship with her and met up with her family three times after the surgery for dinner.

“Sometimes I tell Karen that I have insomnia and her husband jokes that it’s because of the kidney, because Karen has insomnia too,” says Felix.

Willis and Felix were featured in a digital short documentary by Participant Media that follows the life of Felix, Willis, Deanna Felix and a Boston man, Phil Kissinger, who was the recipient of Deanna Felix’s kidney.

The participants of the kidney chain reunited after the surgery to meet each other, some for the first time.

“I was completely surprised to see Phil, I was surprised he was a tall white male, I thought we had to be the same ethnicity, but I was happy that he was doing well,” says Deanna Felix.

Joe Felix with his two daughters. (Photo/courtesy Joe Felix)

But the biggest relief after the donation may have been for Felix’s two daughters. Deanna recalls her seven-year-old daughter worrying whether her father would pass away.

On his first Father’s Day without having to cope with a failing kidney, Felix is planning to go paintballing with his two daughters.  He says he happy to able to be able to do more activities with his kids that he could not before.

“ You take your health for granted a lot, if I were still on dialysis I would have not been feeling all that great on Father’s Day , it would have been pretty difficult to do,” says Felix.

Approximately 49.9 percent of children under 5 years of age  in the U.S. are racial and ethnic minorities, the Census Bureau reported Thursday, and for the first time in American history, the number of deaths outnumbered the number of births among non-Hispanic whites between July 2011 and July 2012. During the same time period, the U.S. Hispanic population grew by 2.2 percent – more than 1.1 million – second only to Asians, a population group which rose by 2.9 percent.

Based on these statistics, young children currently in the minority will soon become “majority-minority” as the white population in the United States declines, said Thomas Mesenbourg, the Census Bureau’s acting director.

According to analysis by the Associated Press, the shift in population growth resulting in a majority-minority nation could happen by 2043.

“These numbers confirm trends we had seen coming for years,” says Mark Hugo Lopez, Associate Director of the Pew Hispanic Center. “And the rapid growth in the Hispanic population, coupled with the young Latinos who make up the largest minority group on the nation’s college campuses, has serious implication for the nation’s labor market and economy.”

RELATED: Senate votes yes to proceed with immigration bill – what’s next

Worth noting, explains Lopez, is that the high rate of births among Latinos accounts more for population growth than immigration does. Births accounted for 76 percent of Hispanic population growth between 2011 and 2012, reports the new Census data, and now Latinos account for approximately 17 percent of the nation’s total population.

“Latinos do make up the majority of immigrants overall,” notes Lopez. “But many of the nation’s unauthorized Latino immigrants have been in the U.S. for ten years or more and have formed families here, which helps account for the increase in the population.”

According to the latest census numbers, California currently has the largest Hispanic population in the country: approximately 14.5 million as of July 1, 2012. In addition five states or equivalents were majority-minority in 2012: Hawaii (77.2 percent minority), Washington, D.C. (64.5 percent), California, (60.6 percent), New Mexico (60.2 percent) and Texas (55.5 percent).

“Many Latinos are growing up in places like South Carolina, Minnesota or Nebraska where the state’s Hispanic population has grown exponentially,” says Lopez. “And as these Latinos reach adulthood, we’ll begin to see how there’s a notable diversity across the Hispanic experience in the U.S.”

RELATED:  Dreamers’ driver’s licenses in NC will have a “no lawful status” stripe

As population growth among U.S. Hispanics continues to soar, the numbers will confirm the importance of Latinos not only to the America’s economic growth, but to the global economy, says Lopez.

“The U.S. Hispanic population is second only to Mexico’s,” says Lopez, citing the fact that the current U.S. Latino population is larger than that of Peru, Colombia or Spain.

“We will begin to play many different roles in the U.S. labor market and beyond – and that’s something which has an incredible implication not only in the United States, but as part of a larger Hispanic world.”

On Thursday, they are holding a special public meeting with Mayor Joe Gunter and Monterey County Superintendent of Schools Nancy Kotowski to see what their options are for possibly renaming Tiburcio Vasquez Elementary School.

The name was approved by the Alisal Union School Board. East Salinas has one of the highest homicide rates in California and is plagued by youth gang violence.

Tiburcio Vasquez was convicted and executed for committing several murders. But those who supported naming of the school after Vasquez say he was a Robin Hood-like figure who helped oppressed Hispanics in the early days of California.

Residents in the Monte Bella neighborhood, where the school was built, say they weren’t part of the process in naming the new school.

“We want the school board to reconsider it’s decision about the naming of the school. We are disappointed because no one contacted us. No one from our community was represented on the school name committee,” said resident Michael Trujillo.

“Tonight, we mourn,” said Chiu L. Tsang, Santa Monica College president, told hundreds gathered at a ceremony. “The tragedies that took place could not be more poignant, more painful and more real for us.”

Margarita Gomez, a Santa Monica resident, was identified Monday as the fifth victim. She was not a student, but was often seen on campus and well-known to students, said Albert Vasquez, chief of the Santa Monica College Police Department.

Click over to NBCLosAngeles.com to read the rest of the story. 

“States like California are setting up new, online marketplaces where, beginning on October 1st of this year, you can comparison shop an array of private health insurance plans side-by-side, just like you were going online to compare cars or airline tickets. And that means insurance companies will actually have to compete with each other for your business. And that means new choices,” President Obama said.

RELATED: Opinion: Latinos have everything to gain from the Affordable Care Act 

The president emphasized the potential benefits of the new California exchanges on Latinos, sprinkling and mentioning Hispanics throughout the speech.

“So about 2.6 million Californians — nearly half of whom are Latinos — will qualify for tax credits that will, in some cases, lower their premiums a significant amount,” he said.  ”Protections like allowing people up to the age of 26 to stay on their parent’s health care plans, which has already helped 6 million Americans, including [1 million] young Latino Americans.”

White House officials say California has the country’s biggest insurance market. With 6 million uninsured residents, it makes up a big part of the push to get residents to sign up for coverage.

As the law nears full implementation in 2014, Republicans have pushed back.  On Tuesday, Senator Marco Rubio proposed a constitutional amendment, “The Right To Refuse Amendment,” designed to undo the requirement that everyone buy insurance.

“We should put our faith in the American people to decide what goods and services they want to buy, not have Congress dictate it and have the IRS empowered to harass Americans to make sure they do it,” Rubio told the Florida Sun-Sentinel.

During his speech, President Obama dismissed criticism of his health care overhaul as “political talk” that was “geared toward the next election.” He insisted that the law would have a positive impact once fully in place. Hispanic families are among the groups that can most benefit from the health care expansion under the Affordable Care Act, with one in three Latinos uninsured. President Obama’s push for greater awareness on the healthcare act in the Latino community comes after a recent survey which showed that many Latinos don’t know some of the key aspects of the health care law.

RELATED: 10 things Latinos should know about the Affordable Care Act 

According to a recent Latino Decisions/Adelante con la Salud poll, more than half of Latinos- 54 percent- in Colorado could not name one specific aspect of the law. Only 18 percent knew that parents can insure their children until they turn 26, and just 14 percent knew that insurance companies can no longer discriminate based on pre-existing conditions.  A mere 6 percent of Colorado Latinos knew about health care exchanges- the kind operating in California that Obama praised in his speech.

RELATED: Over half of Latinos don’t know key aspects of new health care law, says survey

The Obama administration hopes that around 7 million people enroll through the exchanges. In order to keep costs down for the overall group, 2.6 million enrollees need to be younger, since they tend to be healthier. Nearly one-third of these young people live in California, Texas and Florida.

Helping President Obama with his outreach to promote enrollment among Latinos are the Spanish-language TV networks Telemundo and Univision. The White House says the law will give more than 10 million uninsured Latinos across the country the opportunity to afford health insurance coverage.

But Bianca is also making history as part of a different kind of family. Eight years ago, Bianca was among the first ever graduating class of San Francisco’s De Marillac Academy.

De Marillac is a Catholic middle school founded in 2001 with the goal of giving the children of the Tenderloin District a shot at an education, and a life, that for most was out of reach.

Bianca’s graduation is proof De Marillac is doing just that.

Watch Garvin Thomas’ story above.

The research was conducted by a new group called Innovate Public Schools, and it shows only 78 of Latinos are algebra proficient by 8th grade in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.

To view the entire report, click here.

The report also indicates that a whopping 80 percent of Latinos leave high school not eligible to enter the University of California or California State University systems.

“The days of being able to get a good job if you have just a high school education, those days are long gone,” said Matt Hammer, the executive director of Innovate Public Schools. “You have to have some sort of post high school certificate or degree if you’re going to have access to some of the good jobs in Silicon Valley.”

The group looked at test scores statewide and other data in determining the ranking of Latinos.

Surprisingly, some of the highest scoring schools are in San Jose’s Alum Rock School District, located in a traditionally less affluent part of the city, but which has strong dual language immersion programs and alternative school options, while Sunnyvale rated near the bottom.

The authors of the report are strong advocates of charter schools, and some of those are the schools ranked higher in the report. The group says the information is not pro or anti charter schools, just an in-depth look at the school numbers.

At least one South Bay educator agreed with the findings.

“I think it’s time to revisit the structure to see if we’re maximizing opportunities for students,” said Santa Clara County Superintendent of Public Schools Xavier De La Torre.

De La Torre said blame should be placed everywhere, including Sacramento lawmakers for slashing school funds.

“I think it will certainly result in local boards having conversations and asking questions about what can be done,” De La Torre said.

Innovate Public Schools will officially release its report on Wednesday along with school leaders from Santa Clara and San Mateo counties and Carl Guardino, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

But it was in this South Central Los Angeles neighborhood where the budding star began wowing audiences with her powerful renditions of traditional musica ranchera.

“I started singing rancheras and the songs that my grandma loved I would learn and I’d go sing at these voice lessons,” she says.

And by the age of 15, Iraheta had won her first major singing competition airing on Spanish television.

For many, it’s her American Idol fame that made Iraheta known to the masses.

“It was such a huge crazy journey but the doors opened for me,” she says.

An international tour, photo shoots and a record deal- her dreams had come true. But just months into her tour with fellow idol contestant, Adam Lambert, those dreams were dashed when the record label decided to drop her.

“It was really hard.   It was really hard for me to even get on stage and sing, but I did,” she recalls.

Iraheta nearly gave up singing altogether.

“It had been quite a few months of me just being home after the Adam Lambert tour doing nothing and kinda not wanting to leave the house or sing or do anything that had to do with music,” she says.

That all changed when she met longtime producer and songwriter, Matthew Hager.

“Allison happens to be one of the finest vocalists I’ve ever heard on every level,” Hager says.

Now Allison Iraheta’s making music of her very own.

Sporting her signature pink hair, Iraheta is rocking it with her new band Halo Circus. With a new record nearly completed, Halo Circus is sweeping the L.A. music scene.

“Halo represents the sacredness of our lives and circus represents the craziness of the world we live in,” Iraheta says. “And then we sing about that.”

The music tells her story, both in English and in Spanish.

“When you’re you and you’re strong and you know that you’re going to carry your talent and your beauty through whatever life has to throw at you, you’re going to take over the world,” she says.

Aguilar is running for the Democratic nomination in order to face Rep. Gary Miller (R), in one of the most Democratic districts currently represented by a Republican.

After failing to get out of the primary in California’s 31st District last year, Aguilar focused on correcting his past mistakes, including starting his campaign earlier in order to discourage other candidates from getting into the race. But the Democratic nature of the district has attracted two more Democrats into the race, former Congressman Joe Baca and attorney Eloise Gomez Reyes.

“With Baca in, it gets messy fast,” according to one Latino Democratic strategist. Baca probably could have won this congressional seat in 2012, but instead he chose to run in a neighboring district that was more Democratic,  and lost to now-Rep. Gloria Negrete McLeod (D).

Now Baca is attempting his political comeback in the 31st, almost half of which he represented before new congressional boundaries were drawn. But over the years, he has turned off some of the local community by trying to blaze a political trail for his son, Rialto City Councilman Joe Baca Jr., and turned off some Latinos in 2007 when Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D) accused the elder Baca of calling her a “whore.”

Baca is also not known for running strong campaigns, which is part of the reason why the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which is in charge of getting back the House majority, is supporting Aguilar.

Some national Democratic strategists also believe that if Baca is the Democratic nominee he would not be able to provide a stark enough contrast to Miller, who he supported in a mailer in last year’s race.

Over a year before the next primary, Baca and Aguilar are already exchanging blows. Aguilar is using Baca’s support of a Republican congressman against him. Baca called Aguilar’s 2014 bid “not viable” because he lost last year. The two men are trading lists of congressional endorsements (Aguilar has more from California while Baca has more from outside the state) and there is also bubbling generational tension between the 66-year-old former congressman and the 33-year-old mayor.

But Reyes shouldn’t be ignored. Even though she is a first-time candidate and starts the race with very little name identification, she has support from EMILY’s List, a national group that is committed to electing pro-choice, Democratic women and has the ability to help Reyes raise money from donors across the country. If Baca and Aguilar get into a nasty fight, Reyes could benefit by not being attacked.

RELATED: Why can’t Latinos get elected to the U.S. Senate? 

All of the candidates, regardless of party, run together in the June 2014 primary. In 2012, two Republicans finished first and second, preventing Democrats from an opportunity to win the seat in the general election. And Democrats are desperately trying to avoid a replay since they need to win this seat in order to get back to the majority.

If Miller is the only Republican in the race, he will likely finish first with approximately 50 percent of the vote. San Bernardino City Unified School District Board Member Danny Tillman, who is black, will likely get about 6 percent of the vote, leaving the three Hispanic Democrats to fight for approximately 40 percent of the remaining vote. That means 20 percent of the vote or less could be enough to finish in second place and get to the general election.

With all of the infighting, once again Democrats risk that the seat will remain in Republican hands, and Latinos risk missing out on a seat where almost half of the population is Hispanic.

Nathan Gonzales is deputy editor of The Rothenberg Political Report and Founder of PoliticsinStereo.com. You can follow him on Twitter @NathanLGonzales.