Validated....
Feb. 7th, 2012 03:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osodecanelaMany, if not most of those reading this likely already know that the 9th circuit of the Federal Appellate Court has upheld the ruling of Judge Vaughn Walker overturning Prop 8. They have indeed ruled Prop 8 as unconstitutional under the Constitution of the United States.
So, where do things go from here?
As of this morning, same gender couples in California still cannot go to city hall and get married. The overturn is stayed pending further appeals. There are two directions the proponents of prop 8 could take; well, three actually, but the likelihood that they'll drop further opposition seems remote at best. They can go to a challenge before a larger panel of 11 in the 9th district, or they can go directly to petition the US Supreme Court.
From what I've read so far, the 9th district's ruling is a narrow one, only affecting California; it will not reverse marriage bans in other states that have them. It takes 4 justices on the US Supreme Court to agree to hear a case. They could elect to ditch this one. Personally, I'm praying that's exactly what they do.
I may sound like an Uncle Tom here, but getting marriage equality back in California is huge. I'm not so trusting of the US Supreme Court in their current composition that they will rule in our favor, and the loss of marriage equality here was and would be again a very major blow. Social change takes time. It's easier to discriminate against a minority in the abstract. When it's the married lesbian couple whose children play with your kids at the pre-school they attend together, or the gay man and his husband across the street you got to know thru your local neighborhood watch, it becomes real. There's a face on the issue, faces people come to know. We're no longer that threat out there somewhere. We become tangible.
I have heard many describe Vaughn Walker's opinion written like a love letter to Justice Kennedy. Well, I wish I could feel easy with that, but the reality is, I don't. I would rather have my status here in California secure, and have a handful of other states like Washington and Maryland come on board with marriage as an affirmed civil right, before it goes to a future Supreme Court. Frankly, I think we're on better ground to have them overturn DOMA as unconstitutional, and that feels of greater importance to me. Getting comity back, where each state recognizes the marriages and divorces that occur elsewhere in this country, and importantly, our federal government recognizes them is a greater issue here.
So, where do things go from here?
As of this morning, same gender couples in California still cannot go to city hall and get married. The overturn is stayed pending further appeals. There are two directions the proponents of prop 8 could take; well, three actually, but the likelihood that they'll drop further opposition seems remote at best. They can go to a challenge before a larger panel of 11 in the 9th district, or they can go directly to petition the US Supreme Court.
From what I've read so far, the 9th district's ruling is a narrow one, only affecting California; it will not reverse marriage bans in other states that have them. It takes 4 justices on the US Supreme Court to agree to hear a case. They could elect to ditch this one. Personally, I'm praying that's exactly what they do.
I may sound like an Uncle Tom here, but getting marriage equality back in California is huge. I'm not so trusting of the US Supreme Court in their current composition that they will rule in our favor, and the loss of marriage equality here was and would be again a very major blow. Social change takes time. It's easier to discriminate against a minority in the abstract. When it's the married lesbian couple whose children play with your kids at the pre-school they attend together, or the gay man and his husband across the street you got to know thru your local neighborhood watch, it becomes real. There's a face on the issue, faces people come to know. We're no longer that threat out there somewhere. We become tangible.
I have heard many describe Vaughn Walker's opinion written like a love letter to Justice Kennedy. Well, I wish I could feel easy with that, but the reality is, I don't. I would rather have my status here in California secure, and have a handful of other states like Washington and Maryland come on board with marriage as an affirmed civil right, before it goes to a future Supreme Court. Frankly, I think we're on better ground to have them overturn DOMA as unconstitutional, and that feels of greater importance to me. Getting comity back, where each state recognizes the marriages and divorces that occur elsewhere in this country, and importantly, our federal government recognizes them is a greater issue here.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-02-08 12:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-08 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-08 08:07 am (UTC)We were hoping, though, that if it does transpire, just how many millions will the churches pay to send their bank of lawyers to Washington? And how many homeless people are being ignored, due to their bigotry?