What looks like an “everlasting” battle between same-sex couples and marriage traditionalists could be nearing a climax. A California Supreme Court lawsuit to overturn Proposition 8, the measure passed in November to proclaim marriage as between one man and one woman, has heated up.
Opponents, who argue same-sex couples should have an equal and reasonable right to get married, seem to have gained an upper hand when the Supreme Court declared the lawsuit should continue.
You remember the chaos, the young, the old, the “sinners,” the pastors, and all the others who carried signs and badges that took to the streets over Proposition 8. We were inundated with TV ads ranging from saving the future of our children from the “gay menace” to proclaiming people should be allowed to marry whomever they love.
Now that all that chaos seems to have waned, the fight for same-sex marriage and the overturn of Proposition 8 is not. Last week, a U.S. district judge rejected a bid from the anti-happiness party — oh, we mean supporters of Proposition “H8” — to dismiss the constitutional challenge.
Allowing the lawsuit to continue is high stakes for supporters of same-sex marriage, Judge Vaughn Walker ruled, because it’s likely to head to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it should truly be settled.
In fact, Proposition 8 is already on its way to the U.S. high courts. Walker earlier ordered the Proposition 8 people to turn over internal communications and memorandums to attorneys for the gay rights camp. The pro-8 campaign group is appealing to the U.S. 9th District Court of Appeals, claiming turning over the documents violates the 1st Amendment.
Leading up to the November ballot, passions piqued on both sides of the measure, with near riots between marriage traditionalists and same-sex advocates.
To come this far as a nation, a lot of traditions have had to be cast aside. America has spent most of its existence separating church and state, but this is a time when the state must intervene. This is both a human and civil rights issue. The question is too important to be relegated to a practice as fickle as the California initiative process.
Whichever reasoning it takes, the U.S. Supreme Court will have a lot to consider before rendering its decision. Maybe newcomer — and somewhat liberal — Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will show some love to same-sex marriage supporters.
We are a state that should always lead and never follow but, in the case of same-sex marriage rights, we are not following. We are lagging and crawling to the finish line.
California needs to open its arms wide and accept same-sex marriage because it will never be a topic or an issue of the past until we make it part of history.