The latest in an ongoing saga pushed by homosexuals and their advocates will come out today, as a Federal District judge in California releases his ruling on whether California's Prop 8 ballot initiative amending the state Constitution, is blocked by the U.S. Constitution.
Prop 8 amended the state Constitution to say that California would recognize only "marriages" between man and woman.
Besides marriages, Califonia recognizes same-sex "civil unions", which are identical to marriages in all ways except in name. This is not good enough for homosexual advocates, though, who demand that their unions be called "marriages". This despite the universally-accepted definition of "marriage" as being a union of man and woman. Homosexual advocates are demanding that the fundamental definition of "marriage" be changed.
Homosexual advocates have tried repeatedly to put such fundamental changes on legislative bills and even ballot initiatives, and have almost universally rejected. Their only progress has been in getting judges to say that the change in the definition of marriage, is a "civil rights" matter, despite gays already haveing civili rights fully equal to the rights of heteros, in every state in the union.
One of the odder tactics the homosexual advocates have used to "justify" their demands that the definition of marriage be changed, is to compare them to Jim Crow laws forbidding mixed-
race marriages. They apparently hope no one remembers that a fundamental reason for marriage is the procreation and raising of children - something mixed-race couples can do but same-sex couples cannot.
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http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...marriage-ban-ruling-to-be-released-today.html
California Same-Sex Marriage Ban Ruling to Be Released Today
August 04, 2010, 9:24 AM EDT
by Joel Rosenblatt
Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- A federal judge will publish his decision today on the validity of California’s ban on same-sex marriage, or Proposition 8, the state constitutional amendment passed by 52 percent of state voters in 2008.
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco will release the ruling electronically on the district’s web site, according to the court.
The city of San Francisco and gay couples from Berkeley and Burbank argued during an unprecedented trial that the amendment deprives gays and lesbians of equal rights and protections afforded by the U.S. Constitution. Sponsors of Proposition 8 countered that the desire of gays and lesbians to marry is outweighed by the state’s interest in promoting child rearing in heterosexual marriages.
Charles Cooper, an attorney for the law’s sponsors, said at the January trial before Walker that statutes like Proposition 8 have the support of the U.S. Congress, 7 million Californians and 70 out of 108 judges who have examined the issue.
About 18,000 gay couples married in California before Proposition 8 was passed, barring the practice. As of 2006, there were an estimated 109,000 gay couples in California, more than any other state, according to U.S. Census data compiled by the University of California at Los Angeles.
Proposition 8 outlawed same-sex marriage after it was legalized by the California Supreme Court. The ban, still in effect, sparked protests across the state. Walker’s decision will be the culmination of the nation’s first federal trial over the legality of a gay marriage ban. Both sides have pledged to appeal a defeat.
Theodore Olson, a former U.S. solicitor general, argued on behalf of the gay couples that the U.S. Supreme Court has determined in 14 cases going back to 1888 that marriage is tied to rights of privacy, liberty and freedom.
He said Proposition 8 proponents can’t show that California has any rational basis or compelling interest to take away that right.
The case is Perry v. Schwarzenegger, 09-02292, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).
