Wedding bells chime for California same-sex couples

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Mind you, those people who got married now will stay married until divorce or death, there's no question about that. No way in hell will the California State Supreme Court support ex post facto application of a law. Our legal traditions do not support that even for constitutional law.

So if you want to get married, get married by the first week in November.

[Uraniun235]

What the hell? It's not a normal law, it's a constitutional amendment. I can't fathom whomever was stupid enough to allow a constitution to be amended that easily. You might as well not have one.

There is one possible reason, and that is to have law which cannot be touched by the legislature. A regular law initiative/referendum could simply be amended or repealed by the legislature at a later date at will; amending the constitution requires that it get past the electorate first.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

For the first time, effective the 18th, polling in California indicates that 51% of the population, a majority, supports gay marriage being legal.

LOS ANGELES -- Following is one of a series of political columns by Sherry Bebitch Jeffe.

KNBC and other local stations led their Monday evening newscasts with live coverage of the first same-sex wedding performed in Southern California since the recent California Supreme Court ruling overturned the state's voter-approved ban on same sex marriage, passed in 2000.

* Tuesday Coverage: Marriage Ceremonies

The California Court is the second in the country to legalize same-sex marriage. Massachusetts' high court was the first. Its 2004 ruling triggered San Francisco's so-called "Winter of Love," when photos of the city's Mayor, Gavin Newsom, performing gay marriages on the steps of City Hall swept across the country in the midst of a Presidential campaign.
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Public opinion was outraged. Indeed, a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press showed that, in February 2004, 63 percent of Americans opposed legalizing gay marriage. According to Pew, "... opposition spiked following the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision [and] remained high throughout the 2004 election season."

That November, 11 states passed constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriages. President George W. Bush carried nine of those states.

In the wake of John Kerry's narrow defeat in the Presidential contest, angry Democrats debated whether Newsom's performance should be declared by the Bush campaign as a very valuable in-kind contribution.

Meeting with reporters after the election, California's senior Senator, and former San Francisco mayor, Dianne Feinstein was asked whether the actions of fellow Democrat Newsom had caused problems for their party.

"I believe it did energize a very conservative vote," she answered. "It gave them a position to rally around."

There's no ignoring the fact that the issue of "gay marriage" impacted turn-out in 2004, and that it was to the advantage of Republicans.

Will the issue, stoked by the recent ruling and the "California Marriage Protection Act" (a ballot proposition on this November's ballot which would enshrine the same-sex marriage ban in the state constitution), have an impact on this year's Presidential race?

First, public opinion toward gay marriage appears to be less negative than it was during the 2000 election season. According to the most recent Pew survey, conducted just after the California ruling, "49 percent of Americans said they oppose allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry, while 38 percent favored gay marriages."

However -- and this could be important to turn-out, the Pew survey shows "overwhelming majorities of Republicans (75 percent) and white evangelical Protestants (81 percent) oppose allowing gays to marry, and about half in each group strongly opposes gay marriage (48 percent of Republicans, 54 percent of white evangelicals)."

Second, it's been about four years since Massachusetts affirmed gay marriages and the state has yet to fall into the Atlantic Ocean. People have had time to adjust and evaluate. Said Evan Wolfson, director of the gay rights group, Freedom to Marry, "marriage for gay couples has now become a reality, and the opportunity to see that real families are helped and no one is hurt is opening hearts and minds."

In addition, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, most states already ban same-sex marriage. The Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was passed in 1996; it barred "federal recognition of same-sex marriages and allows states to disregard same-sex marriages performed in another state. A majority of states," according to the Chronicle, "have adopted laws modeled after this act."

In 2004, Ohio was the "decider" and the same-sex marriage ban helped bring out conservative voters. George Bush escaped with a razor-thin victory in the Buckeye State. There won't be that kind of turnout booster available to Ohio Republicans this time.

There a sense that the fight has been fought and that, in this election year, voters are not so much attuned to social values issues; the economy, the Iraq war, and health care dominate voter concerns.

On the other hand, the key swing state of Florida, along with normally Democratic California, will have a same-sex marriage ban on the ballot, and that could help energize an unenthusiastic GOP base.

On still another hand, young voters and the liberal Democratic base, energized by the candidacy of Barack Obama, could turnout in numbers large enough to doom these initiatives. In fact, a recent Field Poll shows that, for the first time since it began sampling public opinion toward gay marriage, a majority (51 percent) of the state's voters support the legalization of same-sex unions, and fully 68 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 approve.

Nor does it help the GOP presumptive nominee, John McCain that his chief California supporter, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, has indicated that he supports the Supreme Court ruling and will oppose the new initiative. That stance could prove somewhat awkward for McCain, when he hits the campaign trail with the Governator. And it could further hamper the Governor's already rocky relationship with fellow California Republicans. Only 1 of 4 GOP voters surveyed in the Field Poll approved of same-sex marriage.

In the end, however, The Governor has accurately read the mood and the priorities of the state's electorate -- not to mention the polls (in which his own approval ratings are suffering). Asked by a reporter whether the same-sex marriages that will be performed in the coming months "will stir up California much," the Governor responded, "I think life will go on as usual."

Then again, there's practically nothing about this election season that could be labeled "usual."

It appears that, if aggressively fought, the opponents of gay marriage in California can actually be shown off in November. That will be quite dramatic, and momentous.

[Elfdart]

Where can you get "His and His" towels? I always buy towels for newlyweds since most refrigerators now have icemakers.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Wow. This makes me happy. Especially that the bigots might be shown the door. If only that would happen in AZ. As it stands, we have to fight off a second marriage amendment 2 years after the first one. And this one was handed down by the legislature as an election year ploy, unlike last time, the CAP didnt have to spend 2 million dollars getting enough signatures.

I wonder how well a 1st amendment(establishment or free excercise clause) argument would go in court...

[KlavoHunter]

I saw a video about this that had a brief interview with George Takei (AKA Mr. Sulu) about how him and his partner were finally able to get their marriage license. Takei was his usual hilarious self.