It's About Time!

The State Supreme Court has declared that lesbian and gay couples have the right to marry under the California constitution. In a 4-3 decision, the court said the ban on same-sex marriage violates the "fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship." Marriage licenses can begin being issued as soon as 30 days after the decision.

Thanks to the Justices for finally admitting that a family is more than just "one-man/one-woman."

Of course, no groundbreaking decision for civil rights would be complete without a conservative challenge trying to turn back the clock. Conservative religious organizations have submitted more than 1.1 million initiative petition signatures to change the California constitution to ban equal marriage rights, and officials are working to determine if enough of them are valid.

If the measure qualifies for the ballot, we'll face a real fight in November. The opposite-sex-only ballot initiative in 2000 was approved by over 60% of voters, and if the constitutional amendment initiative is approved by voters this year it will supersede the court's ruling today. We need to join forces with LGBTQ allies to give a real push to defeat the November initiative and secure marriage rights for all Californians! Pledge to vote NO on the initiative.

One bright spot, the initiative does not say whether it would apply retroactively to annul marriages performed before November, an omission that would wind up before the courts. I'm sure the run-up to November will see many long-time lesbian and gay couples taking advantage of the opportunity to legally marry in California.

Thanks are due to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom who started this whole legal process off in 2004 by ordering the San Francisco city clerk to issue marriage licenses to couples regardless of their gender. The 23 brave same-sex couples who have taken their fight for marriage equality all the way to the State Supreme Court can truly celebrate their marriages today. Read more of the history of Marriage Equality in California.

Let's hope other states will follow the lead that Massachusetts, and now California, have set!

UPDATE: Schwarzenegger supports the decision! After vetoing the Marriage Equality bills that landed on his desk, it's nice to see him doing the right thing. The Governor said: “I respect the Court's decision and as Governor, I will uphold its ruling. Also, as I have said in the past, I will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this state Supreme Court ruling.”

Comments

[AllFiredUp]

All too often in the past eight years we have seen so many civil rights and human rights whittled away by the Bush administration that to take any step towards equal rights is refreshing and rejuvenating. No matter how we may feel about gays and lesbians as individuals or as couples, I think we can all agree that discrimination has no place in our state or national constitution through legislation, judicial precedent or any other means. Thursday’s land mark CA Supreme Court decision wasn’t simply a victory for same-sex couples; it was a victory for civil rights, which is a victory for all of us. The court case was not an issue of “gay marriage” but rather an issue of marriage equality and we can all celebrate that.

Don’t be fooled in November! This well-run and heavily-funded pretty hate machine is not an ally of any political party. It certainly doesn’t have any democratic values. This faction is out for itself to perpetuate discrimination and repackage a clearly hateful practice so that Californian’s might think the passage of such a law would somehow benefit them and their family. Do they think we’re stupid?

Well, we aren’t! We are sick of our rights be taken away from us! We’re going to be smart in November and vote against any and all discrimination legislation. We will send a message to the rest of our country that California believes in equal rights and we will stand up for them!