There hasn’t been a lot of news that caught my eye. Today there are several on the marriage/gay marriage issue that will serve as our roundup. You may note that with everything adrift as confusion between courts and legislation no one is really sure where things will end up.
Breaking news: CA Court of Appeal rules against gay marriage
A divided three-judge panel of the California Court of Appeal overturned today (Thursday, October 5) a ruling by a lower court judge that the state’s anti-gay marriage laws are unconstitutional. But the entire panel did rule against two anti-gay groups that had sued the state and sought to be involved in the marriage suit.
The 2-1 decision included three separate opinions.
Marriage Equality USA will hold a rally at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro at 5 p.m. tonight. Molly McKay, media director, said this afternoon that the group was “disappointed” in the appellate court decision.
The two Republican-appointed justices on the panel, Presiding Judge William R. McGuiness and Joanne C. Parrilli, ruled that it is not up to the courts to determine if the state should allow same-sex couples to marry but the legislature.
“We conclude California’s historical definition of marriage does not deprive individuals of a vested fundamental right or discriminate against a suspect class, and thus we analyze the marriage statutes to determine whether the opposite-sex requirement is rationally related to a legitimate government interest,” state the justices in their written opinion, which was posted to the court’s Web site at 2 p.m. Thursday, October 5.
New York Legislators Pressed for Positions on Gay Marriage
After last week’s ruling by the New York Court of Appeals that suggested lawmakers and not the Court should be the proper arbiters of whether or not same-sex marriage is legal, gay rights groups as well as opposing “family” groups are looking to political leaders to clarify their statements on the issue with action.
BloombergBoth New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gubernatorial candidate Attorney General Eliot Spitzer have said in the past that although they support gay marriage, they looked to the state’s laws for ultimate guidance on their actions and have thus legally opposed same-sex marriage proponents up till now.
Now that the court has ruled that the legislature must see to it to get same-sex marriage laws passed, Bloomberg has said he will do what he can to make that happen: “The court said it’s not unconstitutional to have a law that determines who can marry who. And, so, now, what we have to do, if you believe that marriage should be between people if they want to do it, you go to the Legislature. And I said I would do that.”
Spitzer has promised that as the state’s governor he would introduce same-sex marriage legislation. Said his spokesperson Christine Anderson: “…he personally is in favor of gay marriage. As governor, he will draft and propose legislation to change that law.”
The ability has all along been with the legislation but now that the ‘courts’ have spoken they are now empowered. With the national amendment dead in the water I expect that various states will pass it and eventually drift to all 50 states. The window left to define marriage as a one man and one woman seems to be closing. It is possible that it becomes an ‘08′ election issue but how many politicians are going to be willing to alienate a potential voting block?
Tags:
Marriage Expansion
This was news to me. Brown pressured to cover up an investigation while Secretary of State after his employees were caught selling drugs to undercover agents. Sound like Marrion Barry? 
