I suppose it's time I finally weigh in on the California Supreme Court's decision on Proposition 8. And my opinion may surprise you.
I haven't read the entire decision (it's over 100 pages long) but from what I've gleaned from it their decision was the right one. No, I'm not happy that it means I am now a third class citizen simply because I didn't marry someone of the same sex between June and November of last year. And here's why. The court was asked to decide whether or not Proposition 8 was a "revision" or an "amendment". I thought while watching the Court proceedings that the "revision" argument was actually a fairly weak one. And it seems I was correct.
The Court decided it was an amendment and that the People can amend the California constitution through the initiative process even if, and this is important, that amendment is "unwise". They did not reverse their ruling from last year saying that Proposition 22 was unconstitutional. As to how the Justices can reconcile the apparent dichotomy there I'm not sure.
They also ruled that the 18,000 or so same-sex couples who were married can stay married even though the state's constitution now says those marriages are invalid. Some have said that this is the great wisdom in the ruling. Perhaps now the matter will be brought up to the United States Supreme Court under the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. (The minority is protected from the tyranny of the majority.)
In the future (if not already), I bet we'll hear from these discriminatory people who voted Yes on Proposition 8 that the judges were right. And these are the same "activist judges" they were so opposed to last year! These opponents to gay marriage seem to really have short attention spans.
I believe the Court's ruling is probably correct. (Again, I haven't read the whole thing; I'm not sure I'm going to.) The ruling means that it is just as easy to repeal Proposition 8 as it was to enact it. And that may also be the wisdom of the Court.
The struggle continues.
