Gay marriage ban hangs in the balance

[IndianaGreen]

Gay marriage ban hangs in the balance

Rights groups warn of angry protests if California legal ruling goes against them

By Guy Adams in Los Angeles

Monday, 25 May 2009

Five years, thousands of weddings, dozens of lawsuits, and one tense referendum after gay couples were first allowed to tie the knot in California, the state's Supreme Court is poised to once more decide their future.

A panel of seven judges will announce tomorrow whether Proposition Eight, a same-sex marriage ban approved by a narrow majority of voters in November, should now be tossed out because of claims that it was put to the ballot improperly. The court, which has been considering the matter since March, will also reveal the fate of 18,000 couples who married in a five-month period last year when same-sex weddings were allowed. They have been in legal limbo since.

Most experts expect existing marriages to be upheld, but say the court is unlikely to contravene the democratically expressed wish of a slim majority of Californians by overturning Proposition Eight, which was approved by 52 per cent of voters.

Whatever the verdict, a string of demonstrations is already scheduled tomorrow. If the ban is upheld, organisers of at least one event, at San Francisco's City Hall, say large numbers of attendees plan to be "arrested in civil disobedience".

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/gay-marriage-ban-hangs-in-the-balance-1690419.html

[muffin1]

1. I am so worried for my GLBT friends and fellow citizens.

It is way past time to do the right thing here. Civil rights have no business being up for a vote in the first place.

[NorthCarolina]

2. The problem is you need a Respected National Figure, like a President, that is commited

to helping the plight of the LGBT community, and that can advocate in an enlightened and passionate manner. We will likely have no choice but to wait until America progresses to the point that such a figure is politically viable.

[Tim01]

3. "Civil rights have no business being up for a vote in the first place." Wow. Well said.

Some people have the ability to cut through the bullshit and get to the point.

[snake in the grass]

4. If they decide...

...that existing marriages will continue to be legal, then I don't see how Prop 8 will have a chance in the long run. How can it be that some will be afforded the right and others denied? That will be a serious chink in the armour of the fundis.

[Skittles]

5. let the angry protests commence

let the bigots truly out themselves and let their gay friends, family, co-workers, aquaintances see them for what they really are