Is Democracy Subject to a Vote?

Here's the argument the Yes on 8 people pose:

“If they want to legalize same-sex marriage, they are gong to have to bring a proposal before the people of California. That’s how democracy works.”

But if that's the case, then interracial marriage would have been illegal until 1991. It wasn't until then that more than 50% of the public accepted it. Yet the courts in California ruled it legal in 1948. That's forty-three years - a lifetime, a generation - during which people could enjoy rights in California that were not favored by a majority.

In 1998, Alabama was still discussing whether they should remove the prohibition against interracial marriage from their state constitution.

So according to the logic of Yes on 8 people, Obama's parents' marriage should have been illegal, since a majority of the public would have voted against it.