Prop 8 ruled unconstitutional

[Grace62]

Here's what Hon. Stephen Reinhardt of the Ninth Circuit had to say in his decision this week about the constitutionality of Prop 8:

"By emphasizing Proposition 8’s limited effect, we do not mean to minimize the harm that this change in the law caused same-sex couples and their families. To the contrary, we emphasize the extraordinary significance of the official designation of ‘marriage.’ That designation is important because ‘marriage’ is the name that society gives to the relationship that matters most between two adults. A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but to the couples desiring to enter into a committed lifelong relationship, a marriage by the name of ‘registered domestic partnership’ does not.

It is enough to say that Proposition 8 operates with no apparent purpose but to impose on gays and lesbians, through the public law, a majority’s private disapproval of them and their relationships, by taking away from them the official designation of ‘marriage,’ with its societally recognized status. Proposition 8 therefore violates the Equal Protection Clause."

(this is a pretty good article about the way this decision was structured. They've set it up very nicely for the Supreme Court to go along with this, should it go that far.)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/07...d-decision