Court Declares Gay Marriage Ban Unconstitutional
Written by
Hannah Anderson
Written by
Beth Farnsworth
Story Created:
Feb 7, 2012 at 9:19 AM PDT
Story Updated:
Feb 8, 2012 at 11:00 AM PDT
The federal appeals court on Tuesday declared California's same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional, putting the bitterly contested, voter-approved law on track for likely consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that a lower court judge correctly interpreted the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court precedents when he declared in 2010 that Proposition 8 was a violation of the civil rights of gays and lesbians.The court said gay marriages cannot resume in the state until the deadline passes for Proposition 8 sponsors to appeal to a
larger panel of the 9th Circuit. If such an appeal is filed, gay marriages will remain on hold until it's resolved.
Locally, the Santa Barbara Equality Project will hold a community gathering this afternoon, where they invite the public to come learn more about this important decision. It's being held at 6:30 at the Santa Barbara Unitarian Society, 1535 Santa Barbara St.
Story Background:
The panel also said there was no evidence that former Chief U.S.
Judge Vaughn Walker was biased and should have disclosed before he issued his decision that he was gay and in a long-term relationship with another man. The ruling came more than a year after the appeals court heard arguments in the case.
Proposition 8 backers had asked the 9th Circuit to set aside
Walker's ruling on both constitutional grounds and because of the
thorny issue of the judge's personal life. It was the first
instance of an American jurist's sexual orientation being cited as
grounds for overturning a court decision.
Walker publicly revealed he was gay after he retired. However,
supporters of the gay marriage ban argued that he had been obliged
to previously reveal if he wanted to marry his partner - like the gay couples who sued to overturn the ban.
California voters passed Proposition 8 with 52 percent of the
vote in November 2008, five months after the state Supreme Court
legalized same-sex marriage by striking down a pair of laws that
had limited marriage to a man and a woman.
The ballot measure inserted the one man-one woman provision into the California Constitution, thereby overruling the court's decision. It was the first such ban to take away marriage rights from same-sex couples after they had already secured them and its passage followed the most expensive campaign on a social issue in the nation's history.
The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and the Law, a think tank based at the University of California, Los Angeles, has estimated that 18,000 couples tied the knot during the four-month window before Proposition 8 took effect. The California Supreme Court upheld those marriages, but ruled that voters had properly enacted the law.
Locally, the Santa Barbara Equality Project will hold a community gathering this afternoon, where they invite the public to come learn more about this important decision.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
