Court Rules California Ban on Same-Sex Marriage Unconstitutional

By Ariane de Vogue | ABC News – Tue, Feb 7, 2012 1:41 PM EST

                                                                  (Image Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

A federal appeals court in California today struck down Proposition 8, the controversial ballot measure passed in 2008 with 52 percent of the vote that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

A divided 2-1 panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said, "Proposition 8 serves no purpose, has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of the opposite sex. "

The court agreed to stay its ruling pending appeal.

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14 comments

  • pops
    pops  •  Oklahoma City, Oklahoma  •  3 months ago
    Seems logical enough to me. Marriage is just a ceremony that comes with a certificate that the ritual was performed. The church does not own the rights to the ceremony. States do not get to exclude certain people based on race, sex etc etc. When you research the history of marriage and discover the meaning of the ritual it loses a lot of its lustre. Its amazing that modern women would ever take the vows they do. Obviously they have no idea what the history of those vows are. Besides how can same sex marriage possibly have any ill effect on me, my wife, my family, on and on?
    • Forgiven
      Forgiven 3 months ago
      When the very fabric that holds our society together is torn completely asunder and our society spins more out of control that it already has. I hope you will recall that question.
    • jeffrey
      jeffrey 3 months ago
      may you be forgiven for your religious histrionics
    • Kate
      Kate 3 months ago
      @Forgiven- Yikes. Pull yourself together!
  • Patriot
    Patriot  •  San Diego, California  •  3 months ago
    So....... the will of the people is unconstitutional? Why do I even bother to vote? The special interests just sue their way into the law books and legislate their own personal agendas so they can shove their perversions down the majority's throats.
  • Neal
    Neal  •  Tucson, Arizona  •  3 months ago
    Marriage is pretty much meaningless these days....
    • A Yahoo! User 3 months ago
      It always was to some people. Many used it as a means to enslave another person to do their bidding? It is more on an even keel but still, nothing can guarantee you more than you are willing to give or that other person is willing to put into that commitment. It was an illusion to believe it was anything more than a contract in the past. Only clever writers made it out to be more than it really was.
  • LouLou
    LouLou  •  Richardson, Texas  •  3 months ago
    America is in big trouble. It's not so much about the Constitution, It's what God says/said. Common sense tells you that two people, same sex organs, same gender should not be united in
    marriage. The same Bible that condemns killing, also condemns man with man and woman with woman--sexually. So, next they'll give people the right to kill--no consequences. Scary!
  • Jeff
    Jeff  •  3 months ago
    Atheist marrying an atheist has nothing to do with religion. The Bible says : A man and A woman " .
    • A Yahoo! User 3 months ago
      True and neither does marriage. If you read a few other books, you might realize this is a fact. Marriage, has evolved a lot over the centuries. It never could guarantee much? It can't make you love someone, even support them. It cannot even guarantee all of your children are really conceived between the two of you. It is a legal document to protect the rights of property to those who are in agreement to the terms. Religions got is all mixed up with romanticizing it. Business,is responsible for building a whole industry around it. But than the same is true about the Santa Claus myth right? Anything they could do to keep you under their roof rather than anyone else's. A lot of competition going on out there for your business and most of all, your money. It is your choice of course. But you should not have the right to exclude others just because you choose to be religious either.

      Neither one of us should get away with playing the devil. No matter what we choose to worship or not. Being gay isn't the same as satan worship and many people like to worship God who are very good people and born gay. If we can be straight, they can be gay, as long as they don't hurt children and teens. That goes for both sides of course.
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  • Derek
    Derek  •  West Fork, Arkansas  •  3 months ago
    I don't know why we are even fighting and wasting money on this. The government should not be in the business of determining what marriage is in the first place! It is between two people and their religion(or absence of), not two people and their government. Oh, that's right, it's in tax law, insurance law, etc.......
  • A Yahoo! User  •  3 months ago
    Yeah! Yes, it was always discrimination to deny them this right. Today, the legal system worked! Most of all, this is a triumph for the children of gay couples. They don't need a piece of paper to say they are committed to each other but for many, it is a romantic tome full of rights to protect their loved ones in case of an accident or they pass on. So happy for all of my gay friends! When time passes. it won't matter much to anyone else. It didn't before a few religious leaders forgot their place in guiding people to be like Jesus. He wasn't perfect. He tried to be kind and loving, instead of discouraging, stable, long term relationships.

    I'll be waiting for those cats and dogs to retain their own lawyers fighting for their rights to wed. Until than, justice has been done. Most religions will evolve, just as Jesus had done for the OT. I only hope this will reunite more gay children with their families who wrongly rejected them, when they needed their love and support the most. Thank you, for doing the right thing and restoring more of my faith into the hearts of fellow Californians.
  • Joe D
    Joe D  •  3 months ago
    No new news here; sickness prevails in California.
  • Kate
    Kate  •  3 months ago
    "Proposition 8 serves no purpose, has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of the opposite sex."
    I couldn't have said it better myself.
  • deborah64554
    deborah64554  •  Pleasanton, California  •  3 months ago
    These same arguments can be used to legitimize marriage for polygamists and NAMBLA.
    • jeffrey
      jeffrey 3 months ago
      yes they could be used for polygamists but no they could not be used for minors or animals.
    • A Yahoo! User 3 months ago
      Really? It isn't the same issue and really, shouldn't let a preacher think for you. Well first, you have to get the general public to support it and the majority of us do not. You have to be eighteen in order to be held liable to a legal contract. That is what marriage is' a legal contract. You must have an adult consent to marry under that age and that adult can still be held legally for any financial obligations until said minor reaches the age of consent.

      So, you might be able to marry, if say you are sixteen and want to marry an eighteen or older person. But an adult has to take responsibility for the contract to do so. It is not worse than what we do to teenagers now is it? Be happy that at least these marriages will probably not result in making more teens parents than we already have today.
  • Rabid Dog
    Rabid Dog  •  3 months ago
    Wonder why you vote anymore?
  • Pat
    Pat  •  Chicago, Illinois  •  3 months ago
    if 2 men want to ride the hershey highway in the privacy of their own home it does not infringe on my liberty to live my life as i see fit. my 8th grade american history teacher told us the spirit of the constitution is to protect your right to live your life as you see fit so long as you do not infringe on another citizens liberty and right to live as they see fit. marriage may be a religous institution, but there is now law barring atheists from marrying atheists of the opposite sex. the government will recognise their marraige as legitimate as a god fearing couple's marriage. any person who calls themselves a "constitutionalist" and would deny another the rights to take a spouse, to live as they see fit, to do what they do in their own home, and the rights of inheritance and emergency power of attorney etc. should think on that before they keep quoting the constitution.
    • Forgiven
      Forgiven 3 months ago
      Sorry, but the institution of marriage was ordain by God and never has been a right. We the people in our blind ignorance are the ones who made is so.
    • A Yahoo! User 3 months ago
      No, it has existed well before your god was ever made up. Read some more books please. This law has nothing to do with being an atheist. People of all walks of life get married at a court house. Even in all religious ceremonies, it isn't the priest who makes you married but the contract you sign or marriage certificate that must be filed with the States that makes you married. People have faked weddings because the innocent party doesn't realize this fact. Without a wedding certificate, that comes from the States, you can't get married. You cannot go to a priest, say you want to get hitched and he says a few words and it is done!. Doesn't work that way and those weddings are not legal. Please, learn the law before you find yourself the victim of ignorance. God did not make up marriage. People, and lawyers, did.
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