Black and white public records to get a little rainbow coloring
Tomorrow marks a very important day for a large number of Californians as they wait for the Ninth United States Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to issue it’s ruling on the controversial Proposition 8. The ruling marks just another step in the over decade long battle for marriage rights for gay Californians. Prop 8 which, in all respects, is the same as Prop 22 from eight years earlier, started two weeks after the California Supreme Court ruled that the right to marry cannot exclude same-sex couples. It was placed on the November 2008 ballot with 17 million registered voters turning out. The proposition won with a 52.25% simple majority.
Even though the proposition went into effect immediately, It faced a huge challenge mid 2010 when Judge Vaughn Walker overturned the law saying, “Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite sex couples are superior to same sex couples. Because California has no interest in discriminating against gay men and lesbians, and because Proposition 8 prevents California from fulfilling its constitutional obligation to provide marriages on an equal basis, the Court concludes that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.” The ruling was later suspended by the appeals court until it had heard the case. Regardless of the findings, it is expected for the case to be appealed once again and later heard by the US Supreme Court.
...
