California took a giant step toward becoming the second state to legalize gay marriage — the other is Massachusetts — in light of a ruling by the state supreme court today:
“The California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples.”
– Ruling
Gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry in California, the state Supreme Court said today in a historic ruling that could be repudiated by the voters in November.
In a 4-3 decision, the justices said the state’s ban on same-sex marriage violates the “fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship.” The ruling is likely to flood county courthouses with applications from couples newly eligible to marry when the decision takes effect in 30 days.
“The California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples,” Chief Justice Ronald George wrote in the majority opinion.
Allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry “will not deprive opposite-sex couples of any rights and will not alter the legal framework of the institution of marriage,” George said.
In addition, he said, the current state law discriminates against same-sex couples on the basis of their sexual orientation - discrimination that the court, for the first time, put in the same legal category as racial or gender bias.
Hoping to drum up support for John McCain in the presidential election this November, conservatives are attempting to place an initiative on the ballot that would ban gay marriage by amending the state constitution. “Protect Marriage,” the group organized to promote the initiative, paid $1.5 million to petition-gatherers who claimed to have collected 1.1 million signatures — far in excess of the 694,000 signatures they needed. The signatures are currently being validated by county election offices.
While it is likely there will be enough valid signatures to qualify the initiative, civil rights experts point out that the petitioning was a mercenary operation — workers were paid for each signature they collected — rather than a volunteer, grass-roots effort. This could signal weak support among California voters in the fall.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has vetoed two bill that passed the legislature that would have legalized gay marriage, says he will oppose the ballot measure.
