CA Court Upholds Prop 8's Same-Sex Marriage Ban, But Declares Marriages Performed in '08 Legal
By BRUCE-MICHAEL GELBERT
photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert
NYC demonstrators November 2008
On May 26, 2009, the California Supreme Court upheld, by a vote of 6 to 1, the legality of Proposition 8, which amended the state's constitution, late last year, to define marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman, but ruled in favor of the validity of the 18,000 same-sex marriages performed in the state between June and November 2008. There is already a move afoot to return the issue to California voters, via a ballot initiative in 2010 or 2012, in the hope that popular support for same-sex marriage has increased and will continue to do so.
Demonstrators across the country took to the streets, on May 26, to protest the ruling for the discriminatory measure, at they did in New York City that evening, gathering at Sheridan Square, in Greenwich Village, and marching to Union Square for a rally.
On May 15, 2008, by a vote of 4 to 3, the Court had courageously ruled same-sex marriage constitutional, under California state law, and despite immediate efforts, by conservative groups and by the attorneys general of 10 other states, to stay the decision, same-sex marriages were performed across the state starting on the morning of June 16.
On Election Day, November 4, 2008, California passed Proposition 8, by 52 percent of the electorate's vote, successfully denying marriage rights to lesbians and gays.
Grassroots demonstrations, protesting the passage of Proposition 8, were then held throughout the country, including in New York on November 8, across the street from the Mormon Temple near Lincoln Center-because the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints spent in excess of $20 million campaigning for the legislation-and down Broadway, and on November 15, outside City Hall.
