California Gay Couples Continue to Wait
By JAMES MICHAELS
On Monday, August 16, 2010, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put an emergency stay to prevent the issuing same-sex marriage licenses in the state of California which was scheduled to begin on Wednesday, August 18.
On August 4, U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker overturned the marriage ban known as Proposition 8. Vaughn ruled that Prop. 8 was unconstitutional stating that banning same-sex marriage in California violated the Constitutions’ equal protection and due process rights. However, his ruling put a stay on his order to allow time for proponents of Prop. 8 to pursue an appeal.
The three-judge appellate court panel said it wanted to consider the constitutionality of the state’s same sex ban. Sponsors of Prop. 8 petitioned the court to block gay marriages to resume until a determination from the appellate court could be made. They claimed that allowing same-sex marriages to resume while the case was being appealed could cause legal chaos if Prop. 8 was eventually upheld.
Lawyers favoring dropping Prop. 8 stated that they are encouraged that eventually the ban on gay marriage in the state would be permanently dropped and that they would not appeal the appellate court’s stay decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, they added they are will to take the constitutionality of Prop. 8 to the Supreme Court if necessary.
Oral arguments both for and against dropping Proposition 8 are scheduled to begin on December 6.
