Archive for May 16th, 2008
California Supreme Court Overturns Unjust Marriage Law, Gays Can Now Marry
On Thursday, the California Supreme Court made the bold move to overthrow a state law, approved by voters, which prohibited gay people from getting married. This law was similar to laws enacted in states all over the U.S. in the past several years, including an unfortunate ban in my home state of Missouri. In as little as 30 days, Gays should be able to get married legally in California by judges and other authorized figures.
In the 4 to 3 decision, the Republican-appointed Chief Justice Ronald George wrote:
“In contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual’s capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual’s sexual orientation.”
The court also cited the state’s former ban on interracial marriage as inspiration for the ruling, saying that they could not reject a ban on interracial marriage while at the same time allowing a ban on gay marriage.
Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi—the same wonderful Portia from my beloved Arrested Development—have already announced plans to marry legally in California after many years of being together without the possibility of legal marriage. DeGeneres was quoted on Perez Hilton as saying:
“I’m thrilled that the California supreme court overturned the ban on gay marriage. I can’t wait to get married. We all deserve the same rights, and I believe that someday we’ll look back on this and not allowing gays to marry will seem as absurd as not allowing women to vote.
P.S. I’m registered at Crate & Barrel.”
Conservative groups in California are now pushing for a constitutional ban on gay marriage to be put on the November ballot, which would reverse the court’s decision. They are also asking that the court suspend their ruling until a vote can be put to the people in the fall.
Many of these unjust anti-LGBT laws were put on the ballots of several states as a way of swaying voter turnout. In my state of Missouri, the gay marriage ban appeared as a ballot measure right before the key 2004 presidential election. At the time, our Democratic governor managed to muscle back the vote to August leaving the November ballot clear, though the ban still passed. However, in many other states, bans were put on the ballot as a way of bringing out socially conservative voters who would also vote for Bush.
No word yet on how this ruling will affect court rulings in other states.
