Same-Sex Marriage Update

[blackboot]

Prop 8: Gay marriages can resume in California, court rules


By Maura Dolan
June 28, 2013, 3:25 p.m.



The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday cleared the way for gay marriages to resume in California.


The court lifted its stay on an injunction which ordered state officials to stop enforcing Proposition 8. With the court's action, counties can now begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses.

A spokesman for the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had originally said it would takes the court at least 25 days to act after a Supreme Court ruling. Immediately afterward, Gov. Jerry Brown ordered his public health agency to advise the state's counties to "begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in California as soon as the 9th Circuit confirms the stay is lifted."

Opponents of same-sex marriage have argued that Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's 2010 decision overturning Proposition 8 applied only to the two same-sex couples who challenged the ballot measure. But their enthusiasm for going to court to try to narrow the effect of the decision appeared to wane in the hours after the decision.

With Brown and Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris pledging to block Proposition 8 across California, the momentum for gay marriage was likely to hinder any further challenges.

California voters passed Proposition 8 in 2008, six months after the California Supreme Court ruled that gays had the right to wed. The state high court later ruled that the initiative was a valid state constitutional amendment but upheld the validity of an estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages that occurred before the election.

The Supreme Court ruled that ProtectMarriage, the sponsors of Proposition 8, lacked legal authority or standing to appeal Walker's ruling blocking the ballot initiative. The high court said Proposition 8's sponsors were not directly affected by Walker's ruling. Only state officials had the right to appeal, and they refused. That procedural decision wiped out the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' 2-1 ruling against Proposition 8, leaving only Walker's decision in place and affecting only California.

County clerks who preside over marriages said they were ready for same-sex weddings. Marriage licenses already are gender-neutral, and clerks began receiving calls Wednesday from gay couples wanting to schedule appointments.

Harris called on the 9th Circuit on Wednesday to lift its hold on Walker's ruling immediately. The attorney general said she believed that the appeals court had the authority to act quickly.

[MsTinkerbelly]

Same-sex marriages resume in California after court gives go-ahead


By CNN Staff

updated 7:16 PM EDT, Fri June 28, 2013

California lifts same-sex marriage ban



STORY HIGHLIGHTS
A federal appeals court lifts an order banning same-sex marriages
It takes effect "immediately," according to the court order
The U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for the move with a ruling Wednesday

(CNN) -- The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that same-sex marriages can resume in California, a move that the Supreme Court paved the way for on Wednesday.

Three judges on the appeals court made it possible for local governments to issue marriage certificates for gay and lesbian couples with a few words: "The stay in the above matter is dissolved effective immediately."

Very soon after, California Attorney General Kamala Harris was already at San Francisco's city hall marrying couples, according to her office.

"I am thrilled that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted its stay to allow same-sex couples to legally marry in California," Harris said in a statement. "Gay and lesbian couples have waited so long for this day and for their fundamental right to marry. Finally, their loving relationships are as legitimate and legal as any other."

California's Supreme Court struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage in May 2008, ruling that the state's constitution gives "this basic civil right to (marry to) all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples."

But months later, 52% of voters backed Proposition 8 to once again restrict marriages so that they can only be between a man and a woman.

The measure put gay and lesbian marriages on hold in the state, but a federal appeals court later rule Proposition 8 was unconstitutional.

In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed an appeal of that federal court ruling on jurisdictional grounds. That meant that Friday's news -- and the resumption of same-sex marriages in the Golden State -- was expected, even if the timing wasn't fully known

[Toughy]

I did not read all the posts since the SCOTUS ruling, so...

We all do realize that DOMA is NOT struck down? The only section of DOMA struck down is the Federal Recognition of legal civil same gender marriage. Individual states still do not have to recognize legal same gender civil marriage from another state. That means you cannot file joint state taxes and you are denied whatever state benefits there are when it comes to legal civil marriage in that state.

I believe there has been talk from Dems to introduce legislation to repeal DOMA entirely. We all know that will go nowhere in the House....maybe it would pass in the Senate.

We need registered voters and we need a 70% or greater turnout in 2014 to actually get anything done about anything.

[MsTinkerbelly]

Originally Posted by Toughy

I did not read all the posts since the SCOTUS ruling, so...

We all do realize that DOMA is NOT struck down? The only section of DOMA struck down is the Federal Recognition of legal civil same gender marriage. Individual states still do not have to recognize legal same gender civil marriage from another state. That means you cannot file joint state taxes and you are denied whatever state benefits there are when it comes to legal civil marriage in that state.

I believe there has been talk from Dems to introduce legislation to repeal DOMA entirely. We all know that will go nowhere in the House....maybe it would pass in the Senate.

We need registered voters and we need a 70% or greater turnout in 2014 to actually get anything done about anything.

Yes, it's been mentioned several times.

The fight continues!

[MsTinkerbelly]

I just watched clips of the two couples that represented the people in the case against prop hate get married, and I cried all the way through.

We have to keep fighting until we can all marry the person or persons we love.

13 States and counting!

[*Anya*]

New York Times update today:

ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON —

Justice Anthony Kennedy of the Supreme Court denied on Sunday a request from Proposition 8 supporters in California to halt the issuance of same-sex marriage licenses in the nation’s most populous state.

Justice Kennedy turned away the request with no additional comment.

Same-sex marriage opponents had asked Justice Kennedy to step in on Saturday, a day after the federal appeals court in San Francisco allowed same-sex marriages to go forward. Numerous weddings were performed at San Francisco City Hall after the court decisions. The appeals ruling came a day after the Supreme Court declined to decide the California case, effectively allowing same-sex marriages in the state.

The opponents said the appeals court had acted about three weeks too soon. Proposition 8 supporters could continue their efforts to halt gay marriage by filing their request with another Supreme Court justice.

The Supreme Court decided the case on technical grounds, with the majority saying that it was not properly before the court. Because officials in California had declined to appeal a trial court’s decision against them, and because the proponents of the ban were not entitled to step into the state’s shoes to appeal the decision, the court said, it was powerless to issue a decision.

That left in place a trial court victory for two same-sex couples who had sought to marry.
■

PUBLISHED JUNE 30, 2013

[MsTinkerbelly]

I only heard about the challenge now! I'm so glad you posted Anya