In the state’s continuing political battles over gay marriage, both sides are targeting Latino voters, and a new Los Angeles Times poll illustrates why. Overall, the poll showed, a substantial majority of voters in Los Angeles support the right of same-sex couples to legally marry, with 56% in favor and 37% opposed.
That finding closely tracked the results of November’s election in which Proposition 8, which limited marriage to unions of a man and a woman, won statewide but lost in the city of Los Angeles. But the poll also showed that within the city, views on the issue differed widely among racial and ethnic groups.
White voters were most emphatic in their support for same-sex marriage, with 68% supporting it and 27% opposing. African American voters were strongly against it, with 54% opposing same-sex marriage and 37% supporting it.
Opposition to gay marriage by African Americans was widely seen as a major factor contributing to the passage of Proposition 8. Latinos in the current poll were split, with 45% supporting same-sex marriage and 46% opposing.
Within the Latino population, there were additional divisions: women, the young and people with college educations offered more backing for gay marriage than men, older voters and those with fewer years of schooling. Since the passage of Proposition 8, political analysts have suggested that statewide support for same-sex marriage is only a matter of time, and the poll offered support for that idea.
Among Los Angeles voters, support for same-sex marriage grew consistently stronger as the age of respondents decreased.
Among those age 18-29, 66% said same-sex marriages should be recognized as valid, while 29% disagreed.
The percentage of support declined slightly with each increment of age; those age 50-64 supported gay marriage by a narrower 55%-39% margin. The only voters to oppose same-sex marriage in greater numbers than those who backed it were those older than 64. In that group, 43% supported legal gay marriages and 48% were opposed.
The Times Poll was conducted for The Times by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research in conjunction with Public Opinion Strategies, both based in Washington, D.C. The poll questioned 1,500 registered voters in the city of Los Angeles from June 10-16. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
-- Cathleen Decker
Check Sunday's Los Angeles Times for full results of the new Times Poll on topics including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's political future, the city's budget deficit and a look ahead at next year's race for governor.
Photo: L.A. Times
[Updated 1:42 p.m. An earlier version of the headline on this article said L.A. voters were divided along racial and ethnic lines on Proposition 8. The poll asked for opinions on same-sex marriage, not on the ballot initiative specifically.]
[Updated at 3:49 p.m. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today told a federal court that his office remains neutral in the legal battle over whether Proposition 8 violates the U.S. Constitution.]
“Plaintiffs’ complaint presents important constitutional questions that require and warrant judicial determination," the governor said in a written response to a federal challenge of the anti-gay marriage ballot measure.
" In a constitutional democracy, it is the role of the courts to determine and resolve such questions. … The administration encourages the court to resolve the merits of this action expeditiously.”
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker has scheduled a July 2 hearing on arguments whether Proposition 8 should be blocked pending a trial on its constitutionality.
The state has opposed an injunction on the grounds that it could create legal chaos if the measure is eventually upheld. The federal lawsuit was filed shortly before the California Supreme Court rejected challenges to the measure on state constitutional grounds. Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown has argued that Proposition 8 violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
He also argued unsuccessfully in state court that the measure violated the California Constitution.
"We are extremely pleased Gov. Schwarzenegger does not dispute the unconstitutionality of Proposition 8 and agrees that swift action is needed to ensure that every person is treated equally under the law,” said Chad Griffin, president of a group formed to back the federal challenge.
Gay-marriage advocates are planning a number of rallies across the state today and Wednesday to mark the first anniversary of same-sex marriage being legal in California.
The events, planned for West Hollywood, Sacramento, San Francisco, Fresno, San Diego and other cities, will feature couples celebrating their one-year-milestones, as well as faith leaders. All involved will call for a change to California law to make gay marriage legal once again.
Some faith leaders have said they will not perform any civil marriage ceremonies -- those that legally marry couples in the eyes of the state -- until marriage is legal for same sex couples too.
The California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in May 2008. The first marriages were performed June 16, 2008. An estimated 18,000 couples were married between then and November 2008, when voters approved Proposition 8, which amended the state Constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. Gay-marriage advocates are planning another ballot measure to re-amend the Constitution as soon as 2010.
Thousands are expected to converge on West Hollywood Park this weekend for the annual LA Pride festival, a celebration of the gay and lesbian community.
The festival, which charges $20 admission, was to include performances tonight by singers Deborah Cox and Fantasia Barrino. Attendees had the option of watching performances on the main stage, listening to artists and panelists speak at a "community village" or dancing to music on San Vicente Boulevard. Crafts and playground games will be available at the Children’s Garden, while an adults-only "Erotic City" will host an outdoor dungeon and erotic art show.
On Sunday, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa are scheduled to speak at a 10:30 a.m. news conference at Santa Monica and Crescent Heights boulevards to address healthcare issues and the gay-marriage controversy. A parade on Santa Monica Boulevard begins at 11 a.m.
San Vicente will remain closed between Santa Monica Boulevard and Melrose Avenue through Monday at 7 a.m. Santa Monica between Fairfax Avenue and Doheny Drive will close at 6 a.m. Sunday and reopen at 5 p.m., as will Crescent Heights between Romaine Street and Fountain Avenue.
This weekend’s celebration commemorates the Stonewall riots, widely considered the birth of the gay rights movement, which occurred when police in 1969 raided a gay bar in New York City called the Stonewall Inn and patrons fought back.
California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown asked a federal court Thursday not to block Proposition 8, arguing that a resumption of same-sex marriages in the state before the federal challenge was resolved would put those unions in “legal limbo.”
In written arguments filed late Thursday, Brown said permitting gays to marry before appeals in the case are completed “would not serve the public interest because it would create significant uncertainty for many persons [involved in] a relationship in which certainty is of the utmost importance.”
Brown’s decision to oppose an order blocking Prop. 8, which his office contended violated the state constitution, reflects widespread concern among supporters of same-sex marriage that the federal challenge may ultimately fail.
In fact, many gay rights activists openly condemned the federal suit as fraught with risk. They had urged supporters and gay couples not to sue in federal court out of fear that a loss before the U.S. Supreme Court could set back the cause for decades.
Shortly before the California Supreme Court upheld Prop. 8 last month, former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson and prominent lawyer David Boies challenged the anti-gay marriage initiative in federal court in San Francisco. The state high court’s ruling -- based on state law, not the federal constitution -- also upheld the validity of an estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages that occurred before the November vote.
It’s official. Miss California USA Carrie Prejean has been fired.
The reason wasn’t the anti-gay-marriage comments that have made her the darling of the political right. Nor was it the semi-nude photos that have made her the darling of many across the political spectrum.
It was that the San Diego college student wasn’t doing her job, pageant officials said in a statement.
"This was a decision based solely on contraction violations including Ms. Prejean’s unwillingness to make appearances on behalf of the Miss California USA organization,” said Keith Lewis, co-executive director of the Miss California USA pageant. “After our press conference in New York we had hoped we would be able to forge a better working relationship.
"However, since that time it has become abundantly clear that Carrie is unwilling to fulfill her obligations under our contract and work together,” Lewis said. The violations ranged from refusing to appear on the "Larry King Live" show to turning down red-carpet events from sponsors, said Lewis’ publicist, Roger Neal.
“I told Carrie she needed to get back to work and honor her contract, said Donald Trump, owner of the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageant system. “Unfortunately it just doesn’t look like it is going to happen and I offered Keith my full support in making this decision. Carrie is a beautiful young woman and I wish her well as she pursues her other interests.”
The move was the latest twist in a story that mixes intrigue with the machinations of reality television. Prejean burst into prominence when she declared at the Miss USA Pageant that she did not believe that two people of the same sex should be allowed to marry. “No offense to anybody out there,” she said.
Porterville, a small Central Valley town, was the only city in California to formally endorse Proposition 8, the measure that banned gay marriage in California.
But now, some residents want the City Council to reverse course, arguing the endorsement has inflamed tension in Porterville.
The mayor isn't backing down, and it's possible Porterville will take a stand if gay marriage supporters place a measure on the ballot attempting to repeal. According to ABC30, residents spoke out at a council meeting this week:
The Porterville City Council got an earful from residents who said the council's public support of Prop 8, hurt them. Jamie Garza and her wife say the council's action was like declaring open season on gays in Porterville. They suffered verbal assaults, and tire slashing. John Coffee and his husband said harassment and intimidation have increased because of the council's vote. Pediatrician, Dr. Katherine Hall said the council's action was psychologically damaging to young gay people who already feel alienated.
Supporters of California's ban on same-sex marriage are planning to rally later today in Fresno and San Diego in what organizers described as a celebration of traditional marriage, and a thank you to the California Supreme Court for upholding the voter initiative preventing gay unions.
The rally plans by opponents of same-sex marriage follow a gathering Saturday of about 3,000 gay-rights supporters in California's Central Valley in a renewed campaign to win over voters. That demonstration, which included a 14.5-mile march from Selma to Fresno, came just days after the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, limiting marriage to unions of a man and a woman.
The dueling Saturday and Sunday rallies underscore the fact that, despite an election and a Supreme Court decision, the issue of same-sex marriage is by no means settled in California.
Both sides say they intend to keep fighting.
Pastor Jim Franklin, who will be leading the Fresno rally, said it is not a counter-protest, but rather a celebration of his side's victory.
"We are going to have a time of gratitude and thank the courts... and a time to show our gratitude to the 7 million voters who helped [pass] Proposition 8," he said.
Franklin said his meeting was geared to Fresno-area residents, but because of the publicity about Saturday's gay rights event, it could draw people from throughout the San Joaquin Valley.
Meanwhile, labor, religious and civil rights activists planned to meet today in Fresno to plot the next steps in their campaign for marriage equality. Among other things, activists could seek to put the issue on the ballot next year. They also are planning a march this fall in Washington, D.C.
Swaying voters in places like Fresno, which backed Proposition 8 by more than 2 to 1, will be crucial to their efforts.
Fresno police Lt. Gregg Sanders said there were no problems at the Saturday rally, and he expected none this evening. "It was very quiet, no opposing signs or anything," he said.
The Fresno rally is expected to start at 6 p.m. in front of City Hall, Franklin said. Featured speakers were slated to include movie actor Alan Autry, Fresno's former mayor, and Franklin.
Click here for photos. With lively chants and rainbow flags, several thousand people rallied in Fresno today, aiming to persuade California’s conservative heartland to support same-sex marriage rights.
Just days after the California Supreme Court upheld a ban on same-sex marriage approved by voters in November, activists launched the rally with a 14.5-mile march from Selma to Fresno in the Central Valley.
Hundreds participated in the march. Seeking to link the march with the 1960s civil rights movement centered in places like Selma, Ala., organizers said it was “a symbolic sign of respect for the social movements before us.”
The march ended at Fresno City Hall with the larger rally and drew support from such celebrities as Charlize Theron and Eric McCormack. McCormack, a heterosexual actor who played a gay lawyer in the TV sitcom “Will & Grace,” said he joined the march as a symbol of gay rights to middle America.
“We are the gays they accepted,” he said, referring to middle America TV viewers.
The joyful, lively crowd waved “No on Prop. 8” signs and chanted, “We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it.”
No arrests were made, said police, who estimated the crowd to be about 3,000.
Several hundred people participated in a 14.5-mile march in support of same-sex marriage today in what organizers called “a symbolic sign of respect for the social movements before us.”
The marchers, departing from Selma, a central valley town that bears the same name as the historic Alabama center of the 1960s civil rights movement, were expected to arrive in Fresno about 1 p.m.
Fresno police said they were expecting between 3,000 and 5,000 people to converge at the town’s City Hall for an afternoon rally.
Some African American gay activists were troubled by the march and suggested that the 1965 marches from Selma, Ala., to Montgomery, Ala., were indelible events and that gay activists do not suffer the same kind of oppression that blacks did in 1960s Alabama.
Some in the Central Valley were also offended by the suggestion that their community should be compared to the Jim Crow South.
Fresno police spokesman Jeff Cardinale said march organizers had been “extremely cooperative” in working with local officials to plan a safe rally and march. The biggest concern, he said, was Fresno’s blistering heat, which was expected to climb beyond 90-degrees. He urged rally participants to drink plenty of water and wear sunscreen and light clothing.
Streams of cars are headed north on the 5 Freeway this morning, sporting banners saying “Equality Now,” as supporters of same-sex marriage travel to Fresno for a 1 p.m. rally to kick off a renewed campaign to win back the right to marry in California.
Many of the cars are flying rainbow flags from their windows as a symbol of unity. Organizers are calling the rally “Meet in the Middle.” They chose Fresno as a rally site because voters there backed Proposition 8 by more than 2 to 1 and will be crucial to the new campaign. Organizers could seek to put the issue back on the ballot next year.
A march from the nearby town of Selma to Fresno was planned before the rally. But even as the activists road-tripped from Los Angeles and San Francisco into the heat of the Central Valley, their work would not go unchallenged.
On Friday afternoon, the ProtectMarriage committee, which organized the Yes on 8 campaign, announced what amounted to a counter-protest — a “Celebration of Marriage,” to be held Sunday in Fresno and San Diego.
Chanting and carrying flags, gay rights advocates called on President Obama tonight to more aggressively pursue equal rights for all Americans as they demonstrated outside the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where the president was attending a fundraiser.
Although organizers called the event a “welcome” for Obama, many in the crowd of 200 expressed anger that the president has not moved to repeal the federal defense of marriage act and the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy toward gay service members.
During the protest, the crowd chanted, “Out of the court, into the streets, we are ready to fight, we won’t be beat.” It was a reference to Tuesday’s state Supreme Court decision to uphold Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage.
“The president made a promise when he made his speech about hope,” said Rick Jacobs, who chairs the Courage Campaign, an organizer of the protest. “I bought that promise and I still buy that promise, but it’s time for him to start fulfilling that promise for all Americans.”
Jacobs, who worked on Howard Dean’s presidential campaign in California, said that gay rights groups had collected 140,000 signatures for a petition asking the president to end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and to stop the firing of U.S. Army Lt. Dan Choi, an Arab language specialist who was ordered discharged after recently declaringthat he was gay on the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC.
For the demonstration, Gustavo Yanez, 40, of Los Angeles had made a banner saying, “Obama. We voted for change. Stop discrimination.”
“I believe everyone deserves civil rights,” Yanez said. “Having second- and third-class citizens is not right, not in 2009. Obama said in his campaign that he wanted equal rights for all Americans. And we want to hold him to that.”
Corry Phillip, 22, of Hollywood said he was disappointed by the Proposition 8 decision. “It is not right what is going on right now,” he said. “I’m engaged to my partner and had that measure not been upheld, we would have been able to get married. I am going to keep on protesting even if it’s all by myself.”
President Obama arrived in Los Angeles this afternoon for an evening fundraiser at the Beverly Hilton hotel. Advocates of gay marriage plan to picket in front of the hotel.
Obama will be attending the Democratic National Committee event, at which Jennifer Hudson is scheduled to perform.
The protest comes a day after the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, the ban on gay marriage. Obama has said he believes marriage should be between a man and a woman.
The California Supreme Court failed to protect gay couples' fundamental right to marry when it upheld Proposition 8, forcing same-sex couples to appeal to the federal courts to remedy the injustice, two prominent lawyers said today in announcing a lawsuit on behalf of two gay couples.
Former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson, a renowned conservative, and David Boies, who opposed Olson in Bush v. Gore in the 2000 fight over the presidential election, cast their collaborative effort to restore the right of gays to marry in California as a moral imperative to correct an injustice. Their suit seeks an immediate injunction on Prop. 8's ban, thereby allowing same-sex marriages to resume while the case makes its way through the federal court system.
But Olson's role in the gay rights mission prompted much speculation about his motives. The former Bush administration official, who lost his wife in the Sept. 11 terror attacks, conceded that the federal courts might not be ready to recognize sexual orientation as a class in need of protection from discrimination, but he said he hoped "that people don't suspect my motives," vowing to demonstrate his commitment to equal rights by winning the challenge.
Boies vouched for Olson as "committed in heart and soul to equality and committed in heart and soul to the Constitution."
Both lawyers, flanked by the two gay couples they represent in the lawsuit, compared the fight for same-sex marriage rights to previous civil rights campaigns and said it was wrong to urge their clients to wait for their fundamental rights for another decade or longer because of the current conservative domination of the federal bench.
Photos: Attorneys Theodore B. Olson, right, and David Boies take questions during a press conference Wednesday morning at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times
Tuesday's California Supreme Court decision upholding Proposition 8, the voter-approved constitutional ban on gay marriage, is the latest of more than 120 milestones tracked by The Times in a new interactive map. The chronology shows the expansion and contraction of spousal rights for gay couples in the U.S. since January 2000.
At that time, Hawaii and California were the only states to offer gay
couples the chance to enter legal arrangements. Vermont was poised to
begin civil unions later in the year, offering gay couples rights on par with those of
marriages.
Thirty states, including Hawaii, had enacted laws to prevent the recognition of same-sex marriages. In California, Proposition 22, a measure to ban gay marriage, was already on the ballot.
A new front in the battle over gay marriage in California will open today when two prominent attorneys will challenge Proposition 8 in federal court.
The attorneys, who argued on opposite sides of the Bush vs. Gore election case in 2000, will hold a press conference announcing a federal lawsuit and calls for the restoration of gay marriage until the case is decided.
Former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson and David Boies, who represented then-Vice President Al Gore in the contested election, have joined forces to tackle the same-sex-marriage issue, which has deeply divided Californians and left 18,000 gay couples married last year in legal isolation. The lawyers are scheduled to appear this morning at the BIltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
In a project of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, Olson and Boies have united to represent two same-sex couples filing suit after being denied marriage licenses because of Proposition 8.
Their lawsuit, to be filed in U.S. District Court in California, calls for an injunction against the proposition, allowing immediate reinstatement of marriage rights for same-sex couples.
The California Supreme Court ruled in May 2008 that state law prohibiting same-sex marriage was unconstitutional under the privacy, due process and equal protection guarantees of the California Constitution.
But in November, voters passed Proposition 8, which amended the state Constitution to restrict marriage to between a man and a woman. The high court upheld the voter initiative in a 6-1 ruling Tuesday, with Justice Carlos Moreno dissenting.
Legal scholars have observed that proponents of gay marriage have avoided taking the issue to federal court so far because of the dominance of conservative judges and justices on the federal bench after the eight-year tenure of President George W. Bush.
The U.S. Supreme Court has what usually results in a 5-4 majority against extending rights to gays by recognizing sexual orientation as a vulnerable class of citizens in need of protection.
And all but one of the 13 federal appeals circuits has a reliable conservative majority. Even the exception, the San Francisco-based U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, experienced a curtailing of its liberal orientation with Bush’s seven appointments.
Authorities said the crowds of Proposition 8 protesters marching from West Hollywood to Hollywood reached roughly 2,000 late Tuesday night before their numbers began to dwindle about 10 p.m.
In Hollywood, throngs of marchers came up Island Avenue, pouring into the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, which was brightly lighted by neon-studded storefronts. On the street, protesters took chalk and scrawled their sentiments across the pavement like a giant scrapbook.
One example: “H8 is not love.”
One couple, James and Jacob Orlando, joined the march at Hollywood and Highland. Both were holding tiny, battery-powered plastic candles.
“We got married,” said James, 22. “We can’t not come out and support everyone else who can’t.”
Jonathan Plummer, 33, a hairdresser, marched all the way from West Hollywood to Hollywood. “We definitely need to stand for equality,” said Plummer, who made the pilgrimage to make a statement “for all of us.”
Plummer said one day he wants to marry a man. He once was married to a woman, he added, author Terry McMillan, who wrote the book “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” which is based on her romance with Plummer.
Plummer said he did not come into his own as a gay man until he left Jamaica. He has lived in California for 13 years. “I am embracing what I am now,” he said.
--Carla Hall
Photo: Supporters of same-sex marriage march at Santa Monica and San Vicente boulevards in West Hollywood. Credit: Alex Gallardo / Los Angeles Times > > > More photos
The general mood among gay rights protesters in West Hollywood tonight was disappointment, although many demonstrators said they expected the Supreme Court to rule as it did Tuesday.
“I was not extremely surprised,” said Abby Posner, 25, a musician. “The reality is I don’t think that this is the time for [the law] to change. It will, eventually.”
As marchers gathered at San Vicente and Santa Monica boulevards, they spread out across the streets, holding signs aloft. They came with their dogs. Some were on bicycles. There was some chanting—“What do we want?” “Equal rights!” “When do we want it?” “Now!”
If it were not for their protest signs an observer might have mistaken the gathering for a street festival. Steve Whitmore, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesman, estimated the crowd at no more than 1,000 people. No arrests were reported.
Most of those who gathered in West Hollywood spoke about focusing their effort on getting Proposition 8 repealed by 2010. Posner, who is a lesbian, was joined by three of her straight women friends, one of whom, Denise Arias, carried a sign that declared, “NEXT TIME, CAN I VOTE ON YOUR MARRIAGE?”
Not everyone there was gay. Actress Drew Barrymore attracted crowds around her at the intersection of Santa Monica and San Vicente. “I am who I am because of the people who influenced me growing up, and many of them were gay. No one has any right to tell anyone what makes a family,” Barrymore said.
The actress, who is straight, said she came to the event because the issue meant a lot to her. “You choose your battles in this world,” she said. “If you fight for everything, you’re just someone on a soapbox. This is something that means everything to me.”
On a raised stage in the middle of San Vicente Boulevard, across from the Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who is gay, spoke to the crowd, saying he was “angry and outraged” at the Supreme Court decision.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger taped his 25th appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" to air tonight in the comedian’s final week as host.
Most of the visits were before the former movie actor’s political career began.
Although they discussed the state budget crisis and the California Supreme Court’s decision upholding Proposition 8, much of the discussion tonight was light banter, as when Leno asked Schwarzenegger about the new Terminator movie.
Schwarzenegger, who originated the franchise, has been supplanted as its star by Christian Bale, and said he’d taken his family to see the movie.
“The only thing is I was somewhat a little bit upset because I turned to my daughter and said, ‘What do you think?’ ” Schwarzenegger said, according to a transcript, and then quoted her as saying: "'That was the best Terminator movie ever.' "
“Really?” Leno asked.
“Yeah,” Schwarzenegger replied. “So I said, ‘Oh, that's great. Thanks a lot.’ ”
Later, discussing his recent commencement address at USC, Schwarzenegger described his recipe for success this way: “I'm not going to give the long version, but what it comes down to is simply come to this country, work like hell and marry a Kennedy.”
On Prop, 8, the governor said: "Well, as I sent out the regular press statement saying that we, you know, we'll uphold the law. We respect the court's decision, and, you know, I think that this is not over, this decision, because I think they're going to be back. In a year or two, they will be back again with another initiative trying to get it. You know, eventually it's going to be overturned."
Two prominent attorneys who argued on opposite sides of Bush vs. Gore, the legal battle over the 2000 presidential election, announced Tuesday that they will challenge Proposition 8 in federal court and seek to restore gay marriage until the case is decided.
Former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson and David Boies, who represented then-Vice President Al Gore in the contested election, have joined forces to tackle the same-sex marriage issue, which has deeply divided Californians and left 18,000 gay couples married last year in legal isolation.
In a project of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, Olson and Boies have united to represent two same-sex couples filing suit after being denied marriage licenses because of Proposition 8.
Their suit, to be filed in U.S. District Court in California, calls for an injunction against the proposition, allowing immediate reinstatement of marriage rights for same-sex couples.
The California Supreme Court ruled in May 2008 that state law prohibiting same-sex marriage was unconstitutional under the privacy, due process and equal protection guarantees of the California Constitution.
But in November, voters passed Proposition 8, which amended the state Constitution to restrict marriage to between a man and a woman. The high court upheld the voter initiative in a 6-1 ruling today, with Justice Carlos Moreno dissenting.
Legal scholars have observed that proponents of gay marriage have avoided taking the issue to federal court so far because of the dominance of conservative judges and justices on the federal bench after the eight-year tenure of President George W. Bush.
The U.S. Supreme Court has what usually results in a 5-4 majority against extending rights to gays by recognizing sexual orientation as a vulnerable class of citizens in need of protection.
And all but one of the 13 federal appeals circuits has a reliable conservative majority. Even the exception, the San Francisco-based U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, experienced a curtailing of its liberal orientation with Bush’s seven appointments.
San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders criticized the California Supreme Court's decision today for supporting the idea that "some Californians have the right to take away certain rights from others."
"It's obvious that neither justice nor equality were on the court's agenda today," Sanders said in a statement.
Sanders, a Republican and former police chief, opposed the Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage and appeared at rallies with his daughter Lisa, a lesbian. Although he had opposed gay marriage in the past, he held a tearful news conference in late 2007 to announce that he was "leading with my heart" and dropping his opposition.
Lisa Sanders, 25, told a news conference after the court decision that she will continue to work to legalize same-sex marriage and still plans to marry her partner.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which played a somewhat controversial role in the Prop. 8 campaign, expressed support for the California Supreme Court's decision upholding the ban on gay marriage.
"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recognizes the deeply held feelings on both sides, but strongly affirms its belief that marriage should be between a man and a woman," the church said in a statement released from Salt Lake City. "The bedrock institution of marriage between a man and a woman has profound implications for our society. These implications range from what our children are taught in schools to individual and collective freedom of religious expression and practice.... Accordingly, the Church stands firmly for what it believes is right for the health and well-being of society as a whole."
Members of the church were significant financial backers of Proposition 8, which California voters approved last year. Some critics have questioned whether the church violated campaign finance laws, but church officials have insisted they did nothing wrong.
There has been much debate and analysis today over the California Supreme Court's decision to uphold Proposition 8. But here is something a little different: "Star Trek" actor George Takei, who took part in a gay marriage last year, squared off on KTLA-TV Channel 5 against Orange County's Rev. Lou Sheldon. It got interesting.
Times reporter Rong-Gong Lin II is answering reader questions about Proposition 8. Ask a question by submitting a comment below.
Updated at 3:45 p.m.:
The voters aren’t able to decide that murder is OK, right? Or to reinstate slavery? So why can they take away the right for same-sex couples to marry?
California’s Constitution gives its voters broad authority to change state law, and they could, if they wanted, repeal all of the state’s anti-murder criminal laws, the same way they decriminalized marijuana use for medicinal purposes, UC Davis law professor Vikram D. Amar wrote in an e-mail. But voters would not be able to reinstate slavery because that is forbidden by the U.S. Constitution. “We really have two backdrop safety nets: the U.S. Constitution, and the (general) common sense of the people not to do anything TOO stupid or mean, Prop. 8 notwithstanding,” Amar wrote in an e-mail.
Do civil unions provide ALL of the same rights as a married couple or not?
California law already grants domestic partners virtually all of the legal benefits married couples enjoy under state law. But the federal government does not recognize same-sex marriage. This means that married couples of the same sex cannot file joint federal income tax returns or receive federal spousal benefits, including those from the Social Security Administration or the Department of Veterans Affairs. A U.S. citizen who marries a foreigner of the same sex in California will not be allowed to sponsor the spouse to immigrate here.
Does today’s decision take away the rights of married same-sex couples?
No. The justices interpreted Proposition 8 to mean that future unions of same-sex couples cannot be called marriage in California. It does not rescind “ ‘the core set of basic substantive legal rights and attributes traditionally associated with marriage,’ such as the right to establish an officially recognized and protected family relationship with the person of one’s choice and to raise children within that family.”
Can the California Supreme Court be appealed to reconsider its opinion?
No. The justices were explicit today that further reconsideration of same-sex marriage needs to be done at the ballot box.
Why did one Supreme Court justice seek to overturn Proposition 8?
Justice Carlos R. Moreno, the court’s sole Democrat, wrote that the majority decision today “places at risk the state constitutional rights of all disfavored minorities. It weakens the status of our state Constitution as a bulwark of fundamental rights for minorities protected from the will of the majority.”
If I was married in Canada before Proposition 8 was passed, am I still married under this new decision?
The court did not address whether California will continue to recognize same-sex marriages conducted legally in Massachusetts, Canada or other parts of the world where it is legal. From the court’s ruling: “We have no occasion in this case to determine whether same-sex couples who were lawfully married in another jurisdiction prior to the adoption of Proposition 8, but whose marriages were not formally recognized in California prior to that date, are entitled to have their marriages recognized in California at this time. None of the petitioners before us in these cases falls within this category, and in the absence of briefing by a party or parties whose rights would be affected by such a determination, we conclude it would be inappropriate to address that issue in these proceedings.”
Will California recognize future gay marriages from other states and countries such as Canada where they are legal?
No. Proposition 8 says, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” It is unclear whether out-of-state same-sex marriages officiated before Proposition 8 was passed will continue to be recognized as marriages.
Can gay Californian couples legally marry in Massachusetts or Canada?
Gay Californian couples can be married in other states or countries where it is legal to do so. But their marriages are not recognized by California agencies. California same-sex couples, however, can register as domestic partners, which give them many of the legal benefits marriage provides.
How can the California Supreme Court rule that gay marriage is legal and then turn around and uphold Proposition 8?
The California Supreme Court in 2008 ruled that the state Constitution protects a fundamental "right to marry" that extends to same-sex couples. But today, the justices upheld the right of California’s voters to amend the state Constitution to specifically prohibit same-sex couples from marrying.
My husband and I got married in Canada in 2007. When we tried to remarry in California last fall, we were turned away by the county clerk who told us that since we were already married and our marriage was recognized by the state of California, we could not get married again (even though it was to each other). Will our marriage still be recognized in California?
The Times' Maura Dolan answers this question: "The court declined to determine whether same-sex marriages performed outside of California -- and not formally recognized by the state prior to the election -- would be legal in California. The court said it did not hear arguments on that question and wrote that 'it would be inappropriate to address' it today."
I am still waiting for an answer to the basic question of how a law can be found to be unconstitutional and then becomes otherwise by putting it in the Constitution.
The California Supreme Court wrote that the California Constitution "explicitly recognizes the right of the people to amend their state Constitution through the initiative process." That means that, generally, the state's voters have a right to change the Constitution if they disagree with a ruling of the California Supreme Court.
Are they ruling that the definition of the word marriage, between a man and a woman, is not discriminatory? Or are they overturning their decision from last year?
Actually, opponents of Proposition 8 asked the California Supreme Court to overturn the ballot measure on the argument that banning same-sex marriage changed the tenets of the state Constitution and therefore amounted to a revision, which can only be placed on the ballot by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature. Proposition 8 reached the ballot after a signature drive.
In today’s ruling, the court ruled that Proposition 8 "adds but a single, simple section to the Constitution," and therefore was a constitutional amendment and not a revision. "The act of limiting access to the designation of marriage to opposite-sex couples does not have a substantial or, indeed, even a minimal effect on the government plan or framework of California that existed prior to the amendment."
What would the process be to limit the ability of the voters to amend the Constitution at the ballot box?
Such a measure would require amending the state Constitution.
What did the court say about Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown’s argument that Proposition 8 was invalid because “inalienable rights” are not subject to “abrogation” by constitutional amendment?
The court rejected Brown's argument. It ruled that Brown’s argument “rests inaccurately upon an overstatement of the effect of Proposition 8" on the right of privacy and guarantees of due process and equal protection. The court said that “Proposition 8 does not abrogate any of these state constitutional rights, but instead carves out a narrow exception applicable only to access to the designation of the term ‘marriage,’ but not to any of the other of ‘the core set of basic substantive legal rights and attributes traditionally associated with marriage,’ such as the right to establish an officially recognized and protected family relationship with the person of one’s choice and to raise children within that family.”
What did the court say about the arguments of some that it’s too easy to amend the California constitution?
The court said it is constitutionally bound to uphold the initiative process in the state Constitution. “It is not a proper function of this court to curtail that process.... If the process for amending the Constitution is to be restricted — perhaps in the manner it was explicitly limited in an earlier version of our state Constitution, or as limited in the present-day constitutions of some of our sister states — this is an effort that the people themselves may undertake through the process of amending their Constitution in order to impose further limitations upon their own power of initiative.”
Three couples took turns entering the tiny antechamber of the L.A. County Registrar Recorder's office in East L.A. just before 2 p.m.
County officials had let them cut ahead, expecting them to leave after being turned down for marriage licenses.
But half an hour later, they refused to leave, leaving clerks frustrated and people outside bemused and befuddled as protesters chanted slogans.
Deputies tried to cajole the couples to leave, saying people were waiting in line and that children could be startled by the protest.
"Well, I think we might have to stay here until the law is changed," Jeanne Cordova, 60, told a clerk after she and Lynn Ballen, 48, were denied licenses.
"We've been together 20 years," Cordova said in the cramped office. She and Ballen live in Altadena.
"Give them their licenses!" protesters cried outside.
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