Yippee! Yeah for good news!

You don't even know how smug San Franciscans are feeling right now.
I was amused by the bit near the bottom,
"Groups SAYING they were promoting a pro-family agenda had vowed to fight a statewide law allowing same-sex marriage."
I like it when reporters don't just let the anti-gay groups pretend they're something they're not.

Let's just hope this holds up to SCOTUS review...

I guess we're pretty smug, Bitty (ever see that south park episode...), but I know two very happy friends of mine who are on their way downtown to get their licences right now. So the overwhelming emotion around here is not self-satisfaction, but just total joy. I anticipate a summer full of lots of wedding invites!

Yay!

Hate to ruin the parade but homophobic bigots in California have been working to overturn this decision by making the ban of same sex marriage a state constitutional amendment to 'protect it from activist courts'.

http://www.protectmarriage.com/

Awesome!

Unfortunately, other states are not far behind in getting initiatives on their ballots to vote for a state constitutional amendment ban. Florida is VERY backwards in that its citizens vote on constitutional amendments all the time just to get their voices heard, which is an ineffective way to actually get things done. In FL, people voted in an amendment to get the bullet train in central FL - really.

Anyway, the gay marriage ban amendment will be voted on in FL in November and I am ashamed to say it will probably pass in this state. Go Cali State Surpreme Court! Either there is equal protection under the law or there is not. I too hope SCOTUS upholds this decision.

i'm proud of my state today!

Devil's Advocate -- Because this was a ruling about the law's constitutionality within the California constitution, and not the US constitution, the SCOTUS can't do anything.

Wooooo! I have been kind-of sort-of planning a wedding in september pending this decision. I said i wanted to get a real marriage in my home state, dammit! Now it's all systems go!!! :D But of course I would be in friggin Kentucky today instead of WeHo...

The ballot amendment will fail. I will do everything in my power to see to it.

yay! Great news! Go CA.

Apparently it's pretty hard to amend the Constitution in CA too (like MA). So this might well stand! Hooray for CA!

"I respect the court's decision, and as governor I will uphold its ruling," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "Also, as I have said in the past, I will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this state Supreme Court ruling."

Coming from a family of teachers, this is a landmark first time I've ever been happy about something Gov. Schwarzenegger said.

roro80, I don't think so. The ban that the court struck down today wasn't a constitutional amendment. That's what the right wing is going to try next, in response to this ruling. (That the Governator has said he won't support.) It's almost certain this will be appealed to the Supreme Court, though who knows if they'll decide to hear it. For me this just emphasizes how much is at stake in the next election, since whoever wins will undoubtedly be nominating justices to the court.

maybe i'm drunk on equal protection wine, but i'm not yet seeing a way to appeal this ruling to SCOTUS. what argument could anyone possibly make that the california supreme court's interpretation of the california constitution impacted their rights under the US constitution?

acranom -- I'm not a lawyer or anything, but it's my understanding that this decision cannot be appealed to any federal system, and since the decision today was made by the Supreme Court in California, there's no where left to appeal. It does, however, look like there will be a ballot measure to put an amendment into the state constitution defining marriage as between a man and a woman. That would certainly null the ruling today, which basically just said that banning marriage between same sex couples does not uphold the laws in the California consitition.

roro80, i'm a lawyer and you're right. i'm confused as to why cnn is reporting that a SCOTUS appeal is likely. if the CA supreme court had baseed its decision on federal law or the US constitution, that would hold, but they didn't--the opinion is entirely grounded in CA law. the buck stops there.

the only way out is to amend the CA constitution, which i will do everything in my power to stop.

riley -- I'll be right there to help any way I can as well! Any ideas on places to donate for ad space against the amendment?

Awesome for CA! Makes me all the prouder to become a full state citizen later on this year (when I have to get my driver's license changed over).

I'm so proud of my state today!!! :)

But if the prop to make gay marriage illegal is put on the ballot...well, you know who will be out there rallying against it (me).

How did they get all those signatures for the possible proposition anyway? By lying about what the people were signing? You know, like the guys at my school who asked you to sign a petition to get better gun control laws, and...what's this? No gay marriage, too?? Aye...

This makes me happier than you could ever imagine!

YAY FOR CALIFORNIA!

As a Californian, and former San Francisco dweller, I can't believe this didn't happen sooner. But, I am so thrilled that it happened! YAY! YAY! such good news. Maybe the ERA won't be far behind?!

Yay! A good day to be from California. I think I had no less than 6 friends from high school and undergrad call me to share the good news and squee with delight.

i'm confused as to why cnn is reporting that a SCOTUS appeal is likely.

The opinion, which I'm reading now, has not even mentioned any federal issue. The entire thing rests on state grounds. There's no way that this will end up in SCOTUS.

I imagine that CNN is once again demonstrating that the media have a tendency to get a little confused with things legal. I still remember when a CNN "legal correspondent" was attempting to comment on the Bush v. Gore decision, and spent about fifteen minutes puzzling over the phrase "remanded for proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion", acting like it was some new and peculiar expression.

I was excited and happy that this had finally happened in California. After a few minutes an the euphoria wore off I read the rest of the story. I was reminded that the newly won victory is possibly short lived, conservatives and religious persons are working to get a ballot to make a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Ok that's nothing new right? And we all know that it will take a very large majority of states to sign this for it to even be plausible that an amendment would happen. My issue is this; I do not know if anyone else recalls the last two elections when Bush and party practically ran their whole campaign on the issues of morality and homosexuality And the whole thing that lit a fire for the republicans was the San Francisco mayor legalizing gay marriage in his city (which was later overturned). I find it very convienant that this bill was passed in California a few months from the new presidential election and that the Bill was passed by 6 out of 7 republican California supreme court judges. Maybe Im paranoid and I really do hope the California supreme court did this solely because they believe it is right, But doesn't this is all seem way to much like a repeat and exactly the kind of tactics and propaganda that is used when this administration or the party behind them want something? Weapons of Mass Distraction anyone? Either way this will be a great tool for the republican party and John McCain in the coming months.

I was excited and happy that this had finally happened in California. After a few minutes an the euphoria wore off I read the rest of the story. I was reminded that the newly won victory is possibly short lived, conservatives and religious persons are working to get a ballot to make a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Ok that's nothing new right? And we all know that it will take a very large majority of states to sign this for it to even be plausible that an amendment would happen. My issue is this; I do not know if anyone else recalls the last two elections when Bush and party practically ran their whole campaign on the issues of morality and homosexuality And the whole thing that lit a fire for the republicans was the San Francisco mayor legalizing gay marriage in his city (which was later overturned). I find it very convienant that this bill was passed in California a few months from the new presidential election and that the Bill was passed by 6 out of 7 republican California supreme court judges. Maybe Im paranoid and I really do hope the California supreme court did this solely because they believe it is right, But doesn't this is all seem way to much like a repeat and exactly the kind of tactics and propaganda that is used when this administration or the party behind them want something? Weapons of Mass Distraction anyone? Either way this will be a great tool for the republican party and John McCain in the coming months.

I was excited and happy that this had finally happened in California. After a few minutes an the euphoria wore off I read the rest of the story. I was reminded that the newly won victory is possibly short lived, conservatives and religious persons are working to get a ballot to make a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Ok that's nothing new right? And we all know that it will take a very large majority of states to sign this for it to even be plausible that an amendment would happen. My issue is this; I do not know if anyone else recalls the last two elections when Bush and party practically ran their whole campaign on the issues of morality and homosexuality And the whole thing that lit a fire for the republicans was the San Francisco mayor legalizing gay marriage in his city (which was later overturned). I find it very convienant that this bill was passed in California a few months from the new presidential election and that the Bill was passed by 6 out of 7 republican California supreme court judges. Maybe Im paranoid and I really do hope the California supreme court did this solely because they believe it is right, But doesn't this is all seem way to much like a repeat and exactly the kind of tactics and propaganda that is used when this administration or the party behind them want something? Weapons of Mass Distraction anyone? Either way this will be a great tool for the republican party and John McCain in the coming months.

Wait, does this mean that cities other than San Francisco in CA will start marrying couples?

Wait, does this mean that cities other than San Francisco in CA will start marrying couples?

I'm still reading the (quite long) opinion, but so far I don't see any way that they could avoid doing so.

I was excited and happy that this had finally happened in California. After a few minutes an the euphoria wore and I thought for a min. My issue is this; I do not know if anyone else recalls the last two elections when Bush and party practically ran their whole campaign on the issues of morality and homosexuality And the whole thing that lit a fire for the republicans was the San Francisco mayor legalizing gay marriage in his city (which was later overturned). I find it very convienant that this bill was passed in California a few months from the new presidential election and that the Bill was passed by 6 out of 7 republican California supreme court judges. Maybe Im paranoid and I really do hope the California supreme court did this solely because they believe it is right, But doesn't this is all seem way to much like a repeat and exactly the kind of tactics and propaganda that is used when this administration or the party behind them want something? Weapons of Mass Distraction anyone? Either way this will be a great tool for the republican party and John McCain in the coming months.

I was excited and happy that this had finally happened in California. After a few minutes an the euphoria wore and I thought for a min. My issue is this; I do not know if anyone else recalls the last two elections when Bush and party practically ran their whole campaign on the issues of morality and homosexuality And the whole thing that lit a fire for the republicans was the San Francisco mayor legalizing gay marriage in his city (which was later overturned). I find it very convienant that this bill was passed in California a few months from the new presidential election and that the Bill was passed by 6 out of 7 republican California supreme court judges. Maybe Im paranoid and I really do hope the California supreme court did this solely because they believe it is right, But doesn't this is all seem way to much like a repeat and exactly the kind of tactics and propaganda that is used when this administration or the party behind them want something? Weapons of Mass Distraction anyone?

I was excited and happy that this had finally happened in California. After a few minutes an the euphoria wore and I thought for a min. My issue is this; I do not know if anyone else recalls the last two elections when Bush and party practically ran their whole campaign on the issues of morality and homosexuality And the whole thing that lit a fire for the republicans was the San Francisco mayor legalizing gay marriage in his city. I find it very convenient that this bill was passed in California a few months from the new presidential election and that the Bill was passed by 6 out of 7 republican California supreme court judges. Maybe Im paranoid But doesn't this is all seem way to much like a repeat and exactly the kind of tactics that is used when this administration or party want something? Weapons of Mass Distraction anyone?

crud was my first time posting here and the form never said my post went through totally didnt mean to post that so many time sorry

In order to have a vast conspiracy, you need people who can actually formulate complex plans and carry them out. Politicians aren't exactly known for their tactical abilities. In fact, they are known for their complete lack of tactical abilities (Iraq for instance).

They are however extremely good at exploiting opportunities. They saw an opportunity to push their agenda and the took it.

Really, being paranoid all the time and seeing conspiracies under every leaf isn't healthy. The stress it causes will kill you.

Really, being paranoid all the time and seeing conspiracies under every leaf isn't healthy. The stress it causes will kill you.

Plus, this decision is hardly inconsistent with the California courts' (and legislature's) stance on gay rights over time. The courts were already issuing decisions against anti-gay practises as early as the 60s, and GLB people were added to their antidiscrimination statute in 1979.

I'd be more inclined to see a conspiracy if we were talking about the Mississippi Supreme Court, but this ruling doesn't strike me as at all suspect coming from a CA court.

Riley:
"The parties cannot appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, Herrera said, as federal courts do not have jurisdiction over the state laws. 'This is the final say,' he said."

Is CNN reporting somewhere else that a SCOTUS appeal is likely? This is from the article linked above--pretty clear to me.

I kind of can't wait for one of those guys outside of the supermarket to ask me to sign the petition to get that amendment on the ballot. Fun times will ensue.

Maggie- they definitely reported for most of today that there would be a SCOTUS appeal. They also misreported the other places where same sex marriage is legal, saying it was only legal in 3 Canadian provinces and originally didn't report South Africa as having it legalized.

...eyeroll.

I am THRILLED about this. I practically held my breath until 1pm eastern time when I knew they would be releasing the decision. I am a MA resident, but my girlfriend is a CA resident, and the stupid out-of-state rule in MA means that we weren't eligible for marriage unless we planned to live in MA. Now we're residents of BOTH the states that have it legal, and can even begin to dream about moving to CA and having actual rights.

Yeah... right. In a perfect world, that is, where there was a bit less backlash. I am worried about the proposed amendment, but I am going to hope that CA can manage not to throw this away via voter initiative. If Arizona did it, I think CA can, too! :) Here's to hoping!

I posted my thoughts about how this ruling could impact Wyoming, you know, the "Equality" State, at http://cowgrrlup.blogspot.com.

I worked on the campaign against the CA gay marriage ban (Prop. 22, A.K.A. the Knight Initiative) in 2000. I had to leave CA in '04. Seeing the Knight Initiative overturned makes me super homesick.