From BBC News:
About time.
California's top court has ruled that a state law banning marriage between same-sex couples is unconstitutional.
The state's Supreme Court said the "right to form a family relationship" applied to all Californians regardless of sexuality....
"Limiting the designation of marriage to a union 'between a man and a woman' is unconstitutional and must be stricken from the statute," California Chief Justice Ron George said in the written opinion.
About time.
Comments
We worked with the Greens when I lived in California and had a number of successful rallies that got NO media coverage -- including from the gay press (and that detail really pissed me off).
One rally, made up mostly of allies, got over 1,000 people in Mountain View -- Google's hometown -- spontaneously.
There's a lot of grassroots support for marriage equality in California across political lines -- including Libertarians, Greens, independents, pissed off Democrats, and moderate Republicans (including the Reagan-appointed judges who made this decision happen).
I think the far right will find California a much tougher fight than they think -- there's a motivated, connected grassroots that will give them an unprecedented run for their money, and which has a lot of sympathetic ears in high places from major employers to educational institutions.
I also am not convinced the additional turnout will throw support, by default, to any of the old-party campaigns. If anything, it could erode McCain's support and Obama's support among pissed-off gay voters who have had enough.
If the LP runs George Phillies or another centrist, it could result in spoiling a close CA vote for either the Democrats or the Republicans, depending on who shows up and why.
This is a very exciting race!