It’s official! Proposition 8, the measure banning same-sex marriage in California, has been overturned. Judge Vaughn Walker declared today that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional under both the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses.
California may join Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire as the only states where same-sex marriage is legal, pending several appeals. We’re one more step closer towards equality so let’s keep our fingers crossed. Congratulations California!
– Andy
Oh boy!
Now starts all of the self loathing and self hating gay guys whining about not being in favor of gay marriage.
Rejoice!
California hasn’t joined that list yet. The guys who argued for Prop 8 requested that Judge Walker keep the ban in place during the appeal process. We’ll see if Walker does that.
And then the case still has to go to the appeals court, and then the Supreme Court, so we got a long way to go.
@canundra: I was just gonna ask if he granted a stay. Here is a piece of his ruling.
“Because Proposition 8 is unconstitutional under both the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses, the court orders entry of judgment permanently … prohibiting the official defendants [state of California] from applying or enforcing Proposition 8…
Does that mean that he will/has deny(ed) their request?
Canundra you are correct an immediate stay was granted for proponents of the ruling. Still a victory but the battle thus continues!!!!
Horay!
I support full civil marriage rights for all people purely on the basis of equality under the law. And apart from the financial benefits that accrue to married couples, I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone would want to do it.
Damn. The judge is gay. Now they MIGHT start thinking about nullifying his sentence for advocating for his own cause. Those freaks from NOM are expected to sink this low.
I find it funny that this is being applauded when just a few posts ago everyone was saying that monogomy was not possible in a homosexual relationship. Not hating on the ruling, just pointing out the irony of it all. š
I think until we are allowed to get married, the breeders have to go to jail if they get a divorce or commit adultery. If they want to go Biblical it is more so for that then anything on being gay. There are very few refferances of that in the Bible, whereas alot of no divorce or no adultery.
I look at it this way, we are getting closer to the goal of same sex marriage being legal. We have to be happy that the ruling was overturned. The fight continues, still some people argue that marriage between a man and a women is the only way. We must do what’s in our best interest to educate the masses in hopes that they will open their hearts, and minds. We are not the enemy, we just want to have the right to marry the one we love. Is that sooooooo wrong.
In argentina now we have the righ to marry. The issue here is that everyone is constitutionally equal. I donĀ“t wanna get marry, hell iĀ“ve got no partner so far since iĀ“m 23 BUT (a very big but) i have the very same rights and obligations every citizenĀ“s gotta have.
ThatĀ“s the point. Before these law you didnĀ“t have the right not to marry, because legally you were not entitled to do so. Therefore you were a second class citizen, even if you dont mind about marrying. You should be able to choose not to marry.
The marriage is a civil law under the state, and the state must be fair with each and everyone of its citizens despite of sexual preferences, religious beliefs, skin colour, race and so on.
We, in argentina, have now the right to marry, and if this lost country can, i think you can do it.
The two groups that most rigorously oppose equality in marriage are the Mormons and the fundamentalist Christians. The Mormons are scared to death that if same-sex marriage is approved then their very own outcast polygamists will clamor for their rights and the Mormons don’t want the taint of polygamy on their church.
The fundies believe that “God will judge the nations” which somehow means that they will be condemned for living in a country with equal marriage rights. Oddly, this goes against their own belief that if you accept Jesus as your Savior then you are saved.
Both of these groups live their lives based on books written by people from other times who were primitives compared to what we know today.
It is a day of victory for us to see that we are on the winning side. We are getting close to monogomous relationship. One thing I don’t like about proponets of prop 8 is they are trying to enforce everyone to comply with their way of life.
It is all but certain this will make it all the way to the Supreme Court, and if that happens, this decision is D.O.A…..I think it is more likely than not that this decision will be overruled….sorry to burst people’s bubble, but this is the reality of it
If it was unconstitutional to begin with, why did it ever get that far as it did? Were we, members of the gay community, so bold as to think it would never get to a vote by the people? Face it, the ruling may have been overturned, but all it did was fuel more fire for the majority that favored Prop 8. Of course the ruling wreaks of subjectivity on behalf of the judge no matter how much he paints the law with his own agenda. Fail.
and @Not Enough: “…getting close to monogamous relationship.”? Really?!
@DD_838: He issued a temporary stay on Prop 8. There will be another hearing soon on whether to allow same-sex marriages during the appeals process, or not.
@navysausage
afaik it is very rare to see a gay relationship that lasts a lifetime. Maybe if we are bound by the law, it will induce to us a new kind of perception about relationship and what love real is. Maybe the marriage will act as a glue to stick us together for a lifetime. It is just a thought.
Guys, marriage has nothing to do with monogamy, and vice versa. Sure, there are some couples who are mutually faithful across decades of time together — couples of all sexualities. Some of those monogamous couples have been married, some have not. Some couples have been non-monogamous but faithful to each other. The variations are nearly endless.
Guys who are thinking that somehow getting married is the ticket to the Happy Ever After train are deluded.
Marriage rights are about equality under the law, including access to the material and financial benefits awarded to married couples. Anything else people attribute to it — the approval and sanction of whatever god(s) apply, the approbation of society, kin, community, etc. — is icing, or baggage, depending on your bent.
It’s interesting that the judge in this case was opposed by gay-right groups when he was nominated b/c he prosecuted the gay athlete involved in setting up the Gay Olympics. To me it shows that you can’t categorize people as black or white and while there are many homophobic bigots out there, not everyone who doesn’t do everything the gay community wants is homophobic. If you read his opinion in this case, you will see that he is a very open-minded decent man.
I agree, navysausage and RedPhillip. Not Enough: you can’t be serious! Does it stop the heterosexual married couples from cheating?!? Give me a break! Bound by the law? You have no clue! Your bag of reasoning has holes all through it and holds no water.