CA marriage case

by Kevin Naff, Washington Blade editor
The last five years have been a wild ride for gay and lesbian Americans. There was euphoria in 2003, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down sodomy laws in Lawrence v. Texas and the Massachusetts high court mandated gay marriage. But those celebrations were tempered by the crushing disappointments a year later when a slew of states approved constitutional bans on marriage. Then the New York and Maryland high courts -- in sometimes harshly written opinions -- rejected arguments for marriage rights.

And now the California Supreme Court has finally weighed in and the exhilaration is back. In a 4-3 ruling, the court affirmed the right of gay couples to marry and to access the myriad state benefits of marriage.

It's not just a legal victory bringing new rights and obligations to deserving couples. It's an affirmation that our relationships -- our love -- is every bit as important and legitimate as any straight couple's. This decision is an earthquake for the gay rights movement, an instant game-changer. Now, suddenly, more than 35 million Americans live in a state where the high court has said gay couples deserve the right to marry. It's the largest state in the country and, as such, a trendsetter. There's simply no overstating the importance of this day.

The case for marriage was never a slam-dunk in California, despite the legislature twice passing a marriage bill and the state's liberal reputation. The case goes back to 2004, when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom directed the clerk's office to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. He was pilloried in the ensuing media firestorm and blamed by some gay rights activists for igniting a backlash against gay rights. Even now, four years later, state voters may be forced to decide the issue via ballot initiative in November. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who twice vetoed marriage bills, more recently announced that he would oppose an anti-gay ballot measure.

The California ruling will help some cautious Democrats come out of the closet in their support for marriage rights. Already this year, we've seen DNC Chair Howard Dean and former Vice President Al Gore publicly endorse same-sex marriage. Can Obama be far behind?

But today is not a day for politics. It's a day to celebrate. Not just the massively important win in California, but the arrival of a new day in the gay rights movement for the entire country.

Americans are sometimes slow to do the right thing, but today we take a giant leap in the right direction. A new generation of gay kids will grow up knowing that many of their fellow gay citizens are legally married. It's a foreign vision to those of us who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, when AIDS cast its smothering shadow.

Thank you, California!

Full article: A California dream come true | Washington Blade

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