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California Supreme Court Rules to Uphold Prop 8 Gay-Marriage Ban

May 26th, 2009 · 1 Comment

By: LISA R. WILSON

The fight for marriage equality will rage on another day. On Tuesday, May 26th, California’s Supreme Court ruled to uphold the state’s gay-marriage ban, also known as Proposition 8. The 6-1 decision by Chief Justice Ron George rejected an argument from activists that Proposition 8 revised the California constitution’s equal protection clause.

Although the Court also ruled that the 18,000 same-sex weddings that took place before the prohibition passed are still valid and it would be too disruptive to apply Prop 8 retroactively, activists said they would go back to the voting public as soon as possible to repeal the ban.

The California Supreme Court ruled 4-3 last May that it was unconstitutional to deny gay couples the right to wed. Since that time, same-sex couples from around the country came to California to wed before this ruling made its way to the voters during the 2008 election. Consequently, Proposition 8 did pass with a 52% approval. As the fight raged on in California, Iowa, Maine, Vermont and Connecticut legalized gay marriage.

Although the court ruled that the ban denies gay couples use of the term “marriage,” California still allows gay couples to form domestic partnerships and does not “disturb the basic right to establish an officially recognized and protected family relationship with the person of one’s choice and to raise children within the family.”

So what are your thoughts? Was justice upheld today based upon the voice of the voters, or was the decree of our Constitution challenged today and overruled? No matter what side of the fence you stand on this issue, there is a long fight ahead that will impact our country and that of generations to come.

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One Comment so far ↓

  • John Harris

    Unforyunately, gay marriage is only a fad. In the recent past, gay activists were against marriage, gay or otherwise. In countries with a history of gay marriage, there was a brief flurry of gay marriage followed by an absense of gay marriage, indicating that it is in fact a fad. I predict that gay marriage will conclude in legal problems, resulting primarily from abandonment due to the fact that the activists themselves don’t take marriage seriously. In conclusion I don’t believe that we should change age-old custom and law for an arbitrary, shortlived fad. Thank-you for your attention
    John Harris

    Reply

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