Behind The Eight Ball, Gay Marriage Opponents Shot Down

Supporters of same-sex marriage in the Southland and across the state scored a major victory today when a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Proposition 8, the voter-approved ban on same-sex weddings, was unconstitutional.

The 2-1 decision out of San Francisco, however, will likely be appealed to either the full 9th Circuit Court or directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.  Despite the ruling, a stay on gay marriages in California will remain in effect while the court case continues.  But that didn't temper the elated reactions from supporters of same-sex unions.
 

"It gives Californians the respect that they should be getting," said Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, the first openly gay man to serve on the body. "We don't have our basic civil and human rights in our relationships. We don't get the IRS benefits. We don't get Social Security benefits. We don't have any of those benefits that are codified in Washington."

Lorrie L. Jean, chief executive officer of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, said, "We are one step closer to the day the freedom to marry will ring in California once again.  "This draws nearer the day when every American will be able to marry the person they love, regardless of gender -- and to have that important commitment recognized by the law of the land," she said. "Having that commitment honored is no small thing."
 

According to the court panel's ruling, the proposition's primary impact was to "lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California." 

"It stripped same-sex couples of the ability they previously possessed to obtain and use the designation of `marriage' to describe their relationships," according to the court's decision. "Nothing more, nothing less. Proposition 8 therefore could not have been enacted to advance California's interests in child-rearing or responsible procreation, for it had no effect on the rights of same-sex couples to raise children or on the procreative practices of other couples.
 

"Nor did Proposition 8 have any effect on religious freedom or on parents' rights to control their children's education; it could not have been enacted to safeguard those liberties." Judges Stephen Reinhardt and Michael Daly Hawkins signed off on the ruling, while Judge N. Randy Smith dissented, writing in a separate opinion that he was "not convinced that Proposition 8 is not rationally related to a legitimate governmental interest."

Opponents of same-sex marriage were vocal in their condemnation of the ruling.  Proposition 8 supporter Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, blasted the ruling, calling it "unfair to the voters, against our republic, against our democratic system"

"It's illogical and unconstitutional to claim that natural, unchangeable race and ethnicity is the same as sexual behavior," he said.  "That's not fair or true. Race and ethnicity are inherited, but science has never found homosexuality, bisexuality or transsexuality to be inherited or unchangeable."

Gov. Jerry Brown issued a statement saying the court "has rendered a powerful affirmation of the right of same-sex couples to marry. I applaud the wisdom and courage of this decision."