Breakdown of Prop. 8 Decision

At 10 a.m. this morning, the California Supreme Court ruled 6 to 1 to uphold Proposition 8. In doing so, they ruled that the 18,000 gay marriages already performed in California would be valid, but that going forward, "marriage" in California will only be between "a man and a woman." The judges' decision is about 50,000 words, so in summary, they said they based it on two main issues: 1) whether Proposition 8 was a constitutional amendment or a constitutional revision, and 2) if Proposition 8 would significantly infringe upon gay people's constitutional rights.

In the first issue, the court referenced the large number of amendments to the California constitution that have been passed since the 1800s and determined, using the requirements for both a revision and amendment, that Proposition 8 was just one of many amendments, not the larger, rarer, revisions. (You can read the entire decision here). The second issue is far more contentious. The judges found that allowing only opposite-sex partners to have the designation of the term "marriage" was not in itself an abrogation of gay citizen's rights. As they wrote:

"Contrary to petitioners’ assertion, Proposition 8 does not entirely repeal or abrogate the aspect of a same-sex couple’s state constitutional right of privacy and due process that was analyzed in the majority opinion in the Marriage Cases—that is, the constitutional right of same-sex couples to “choose one’s life partner and enter with that person into a committed, officially recognized, and protected family relationship that enjoys all of the constitutionally based incidents of marriage”  (Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th at p. 829). 

Essentially, the judges said that because same-sex couples have so many rights in California already, they don't need the official designation of "marriage." Protection of gay people's rights under California law, the judges ruled, "has not generally been repealed or eliminated by Proposition 8." While the judges did say that they understood same-sex couples' desire for the term "marriage," they emphasized that their task was "not to determine whether the provision at issue is wise or sound as a matter of policy or whether we, as individuals, believe it should be a part of the California Constitution."

The crowds in San Francisco, however, who started gathering at the city's Civic Center early this morning, were not satisfied with the judges' opinion that they don't need the term "marriage" to define their unions. As of about 30 minutes ago, 200+ protesters were blocking traffic in downtown San Francisco. Protesting is all well and good, but what's next? Most likely, a new ballot measure in 2010 that would overturn Proposition 8. One good thing from the ruling: now that the judges have ruled that Proposition 8 was an amendment, next year's pro-gay marriage ballot measure would also likely be ruled an amendment and could supplant Proposition 8. For the 90-second YouTube explanation of what's next, filmed on location in San Francisco, click here.