Hooray!

Add California to the list of states that "get it" (presumptively, of course... pending appeals and hopefully a trip to the Supreme Court). Today, a federal Judge overturned the California voter-approved ban on same sex marriage.  Overturning Proposition 8 is surely a broad and fantastic step towards equality for all, however the hurdles to equality are still numerous across America.  And more specifically, the hurdles to finality in this case are high.  Below are highlights from various news outlets reporting on today's momentous decision.

from the San Francisco Chronicle:

"With an appeal virtually guaranteed, it was one step toward victory, but not a final win for gay marriage, said local residents.
"You could get happy about it, but we've been happy before and we got let down," said Michael Valdez, 59, who was out walking with his domestic partner Ray Smith."read more here

from the Los Angeles Times/Excerpts from Jude Walker's Opinion:

"Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite sex couples are superior to same-sex couples. Because California has no interest in discriminating against gay men and lesbians, and because Proposition 8 prevents California from fulfilling its constitutional obligation to provide marriages on an equal basis, the court concludes that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional."

from the WSJ blog: 

"Judge Walker ruled that the “fundamental right” in the case was the right to marry — and that it had been denied the plaintiffs. It’s important to note that Walker didn’t say the right was to marry someone of a specific sex, which might not be defined as a “fundamental right,” rather the right to marry generally. He wrote: "Plaintiffs do not seek recognition of a new right. To characterize plaintiffs’ objective as “the right to same-sex marriage” would suggest that plaintiffs seek something different from what opposite-sex couples across the state enjoy —— namely, marriage. Rather, plaintiffs ask California to recognize their relationships for what they are: marriages.""

read more here

from the New York Times:

"...the very existence of federal court ruling recognizing same-sex marriage in California, the nation’s most populous state, set off cheers of “We won!” from crowds assembled in front of the courthouse in San Francisco. Evening rallies and celebrations were planned in dozens of cities across the state and several across the nation."

"During the trial, which ended in June, plaintiffs offered evidence from experts on marriage, sociology and political science, and emotional testimony from the two couples who had brought the case. Proponents for Proposition 8 offered a much more straightforward defense of the measure, saying that same-sex marriage damaged traditional marriage as an institution and that marriage was historically rooted in the need to foster procreation, which same-sex unions cannot, and was thus fundamental to the existence and survival of the human race.
But Judge Walker seemed skeptical of those claims. “Tradition alone, however,” he wrote, “cannot form the rational basis for a law.”"

read more here