cross your fingers ladies and gents

marleyisalegend

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i know i've been posting a lot lately but this may end up being good news for the gay community. The ruling will be posted at 10AM Pacific


Source: California high court set to rule on gay marriage - San Jose Mercury News

basically california's ruling on gay marriage tomorrow morning. of course this has been shot down before but let's think positive, in a few hours we may have
 

Tattooed Goddess

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This post got lost with the other topics with more pertinant headlines- particularly the HIV thread. The title probably made it less likely to get clicked on- not the poster. We only see partial titles in the right column of new threads, so it might not have been catchy enough to be clicked.

The topic is very important, so keep us posted.
 

jason_els

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Proposition 22, which defines marriage as being between one man and one woman, was passed by Californians by a margin of 61%. The Governator vetoed two other attempts by the legislature to legalize gay marriage citing Proposition 22 as the reason. The essential argument of the pro-gay marriage contingent is that the state has no compelling reason to limit marriage to only one man and one woman and such a law violates anti-discrimination amendments within the state's constitution. It's a reach.

The opposition has it easy: gay marriage is illegal in California and it's illegal because the majority of voters decided it should be, not the legislature. Overturning a direct popular vote is something courts are usually loathe to do.

On the other hand, there are rumors, according to the Huffington Post, that the court will be deciding in favor of gay marriage.

This decision could mark a major change in how California operates and possibly cause a constitutional crisis within the state.
 

swordfishME

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Proposition 22, which defines marriage as being between one man and one woman, was passed by Californians by a margin of 61%. The Governator vetoed two other attempts by the legislature to legalize gay marriage citing Proposition 22 as the reason. The essential argument of the pro-gay marriage contingent is that the state has no compelling reason to limit marriage to only one man and one woman and such a law violates anti-discrimination amendments within the state's constitution. It's a reach.

The opposition has it easy: gay marriage is illegal in California and it's illegal because the majority of voters decided it should be, not the legislature. Overturning a direct popular vote is something courts are usually loathe to do.

On the other hand, there are rumors, according to the Huffington Post, that the court will be deciding in favor of gay marriage.

This decision could mark a major change in how California operates and possibly cause a constitutional crisis within the state.

Prop 22 is not an amendment to the constitution, so I can see where the SC has a little bit of wiggle room. Since the illegality of gay marriage is voter-sanctioned, they might just end up ruling that the issue needs to be presented to the voters again for a decision. Given the state's liberal reputation, a complete rejection of gay marriage without giving some hope to the proponents of such a move would be very surprising.
 

jason_els

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Prop 22 is not an amendment to the constitution, so I can see where the SC has a little bit of wiggle room. Since the illegality of gay marriage is voter-sanctioned, they might just end up ruling that the issue needs to be presented to the voters again for a decision. Given the state's liberal reputation, a complete rejection of gay marriage without giving some hope to the proponents of such a move would be very surprising.

Agreed. Californian law is like the introduction to Star Trek, exploring strange, new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilizations.. blah blah blah (I'm pretty sure this guy is the California Supreme Court's Chief Justice). My guess is, if the rumor is true, that the court will vacate Prop 22 and use as its basis the need for the state to produce a plausible reason why it has an interest in denying gays the right to marry because the basis of that discrimination is sexual preference and California's anti-discrimination laws and common law rulings have upheld the rights of homosexuals in all other recent cases where sexual preference has been at issue.

Then again, this court also told those who were married in San Francisco that they'll have to get re-married in order to be considered married; a contention that no other state required when miscegenation laws were vacated because the laws were vacated because they were illegal to begin with, ergo those who were married de-facto illegally were acting in the right of law (they were right, it was the law which was wrong) and so were actually acting legally when they were married.
 

DC_DEEP

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amen. too bad threads like this don't get as much attention as the arguments about race and politics do
But this is a politics thread!:biggrin1:

I hope that common sense prevails.

Jason, every state and the federal government all have contradictory laws on the books. I'm convinced that they do it in order to be able to apply whichever law suits their purposes at any given time. Also the reason that almost all federal laws begin with the statement "any other law notwithstanding..." Comment?
 

D_Fiona_Farvel

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Agreed. Californian law is like the introduction to Star Trek, exploring strange, new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilizations.. blah blah blah (I'm pretty sure this guy is the California Supreme Court's Chief Justice). My guess is, if the rumor is true, that the court will vacate Prop 22 and use as its basis the need for the state to produce a plausible reason why it has an interest in denying gays the right to marry because the basis of that discrimination is sexual preference and California's anti-discrimination laws and common law rulings have upheld the rights of homosexuals in all other recent cases where sexual preference has been at issue.

Then again, this court also told those who were married in San Francisco that they'll have to get re-married in order to be considered married; a contention that no other state required when miscegenation laws were vacated because the laws were vacated because they were illegal to begin with, ergo those who were married de-facto illegally were acting in the right of law (they were right, it was the law which was wrong) and so were actually acting legally when they were married.
I love California law! The fact that California's constitution has been amended hundreds of times, and counting, makes me very proud! :biggrin1:

I am disappointed that California did not prove to be a bellwether state for gay unions, but I do have faith in my people that change is coming. :smile:
 

marleyisalegend

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we did it!!! well, sorta, as of may 15th, california has become the second state where gay marriages are allowed!!!! congrats to our brothers and sisters in cali state. one small step everybody!!!!

KXXV-TV News Channel 25 - Central Texas News and Weather for Waco, Temple, Killeen | California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban

and if i'm correct, there's only one democrat sitting on that board so this was passed by supposedly uptight, conservative republicans!!!! i hope this isn't a play to win the republicans gay votes cuz the timing seems suspicious, but who cares. anybody wanna move to california and marry me?!?!?!?!?:tongue:
 

marleyisalegend

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i'm so excited, sure it's minor but it's also major seeing as how california is the country's largest (or second largest) state. that's a whole lotta gay marriages that are now legal.