Gay Marriage Legal In California? | Gay Fay Law Center

Contents:

• IS GAY MARRIAGE LEGAL CALIFORNIA?
• CALIFORNIA VOTERS WILL BE ASKED TO REAFFIRM GAY MARRIAGE PROTECTNS ON 2024 BALLOT
• CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR.
• WILL CALIFORNIA PROTECT GAY MARRIAGE S NSTUTN?
• CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR
• GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
• PROP 8 LG EXPLAED: WHY GAY MARRIAGE WILL RUME CALIFORNIA
• GAY MARRIAGE
• CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS COULD REMOVE IT NEXT YEAR
• US SUPREME COURT L GAY MARRIAGE IS LEGAL NATNWI
• GAY MARRIAGE IS LEGAL IN CALIFORNIA
• THE NEXT STEP FOR CALIFORNIA'S GAY MARRIAGE BAN
• SUPREME COURT EXTENDS GAY-MARRIAGE RIGHTS WH TWO RULGS
• CALIFORNIA UPHOLDS GAY MARRIAGE BAN
• GAY MARRIAGE BAN OVERTURNED
• WHY DO THE SUPREME COURT’S CISNS ON GAY MARRIAGE MATTER TO YOU?

IS GAY MARRIAGE LEGAL CALIFORNIA?

Although there is no current threat to the legaly of gay marriage, and Print Bin signed a bill safeguardg last year, the Democratic-domant state Legislature is seekg to remove language om California’s Constutn that still f marriage as between a man and outdated state fn has been emed unenforceable and unnstutnal thanks to feral law, but LGBTQ advocy groups are askg voters to repeal and amend the California Constutn to stead explicly state that marriage is “a fundamental right. ImageLorie Smh said her Christian fah requir her to turn away ctomers seekg servic to celebrate same-sex Woolf for The New York TimThe Supreme Court sid on Friday wh a web signer Colorado who said she had a First Amendment right to refe to sign weddg webs for same-sex upl spe a state law that forbids discrimatn agast gay people. Kavangh and Amy Coney Barrett, shifted the urt to the urts have generally sid wh gay and lbian upl who were refed service by bakeri, florists and others, lg that potential ctomers are entled to equal treatment, at least parts of the untry wh laws forbiddg discrimatn based on sexual owners of bs challengg those laws have argued that the ernment should not force them to choose between the requirements of their fahs and their livelihoods.

ETFriday’s lg was another reassurg cisn for relig celebratory moment outsi the Supreme Court on Friday, after the urt livered the latt a strg of judgments favor of relig Zuhaib/Associated PrsConservativ who have moral and theologil objectns to gay marriage saw the Supreme Court’s cisn on Friday as reassurance that they would be able to assert their beliefs a public square that they see as creasgly hostile to a 6-to-3 vote, spl along iologil l, the jtic agreed wh a web signer Colorado who said she had a First Amendment right to refe to provi servic for same-sex marriag, spe a state law that forbids discrimatn agast gay people.

ETHere’s how urt battl over servg same-sex upl have played out the Cote for The New York TimIn the latt se volvg same-sex marriage rights, relig eedom and discrimatn, the Supreme Court on Friday led favor of a web signer Colorado who said she had a First Amendment right not to provi servic for same-sex marriag spe a state law that bans discrimatn agast gay ’s a brief look at some of the most proment s before Friday’s:A Colorado baker ws urtIn June 2018, the Supreme Court led favor of a Colorado baker who refed to bake a weddg ke for a gay uple. The urt’s cisn mak easier for bs Bra to cle ctomer requts that are at odds wh their dispute began 2014, when Gareth Lee, a gay rights activist Northern Ireland, sought to buy a ke for a party om Ashers Bakg Company Belfast that showed two “Same Street” characters, Bert and Ernie; a logo for his group, QueerSpace; and the slogan supportg gay marriage.

CALIFORNIA VOTERS WILL BE ASKED TO REAFFIRM GAY MARRIAGE PROTECTNS ON 2024 BALLOT

”Invatn signers sue the cy of PhoenixThe Arizona Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments January after two Christian vatn signers said they would refe to create weddg vatns for same-sex upl if Da and Breanna Koski, evangelil Christians and the owners of Bsh & Nib Stud, sued the cy of Phoenix 2016, sayg they feared legal retributn if they did not fulfill requts om gay or lbian upl. After the 2020 electn, Colorado bee a center of electn nspiraci, a e embraced by some of s state is “a nice enpsulatn on what lims have been placed on the Christian right and what power and fluence they n still yield, ” William Schultz, a historian at the Universy of Chigo Divy School who is workg on a book about Christian culture Colorado Sprgs, said last 1992, voters the state passed what was nsired at the time to be an unual ballot iative prohibg Colorado om regnizg gay, lbian and bisexual people as a protected class.

CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR.

”The se, though amed as a clash between ee speech and gay rights, was the latt a seri of cisns favor of relig people and groups, notably nservative Christians, who celebrated the lg on Friday as a victory for relig dissent, Jtice Sonia Sotomayor lled the lg “profoundly wrong, ” argug that the Colorado anti-discrimatn law “targets nduct, not speech, for regulatn, and the act of discrimatn has never nstuted protected exprsn unr the First Amendment. At the same time, the lg limed the abily of the ernments to enforce anti-discrimatn urts have generally sid wh gay and lbian upl who were refed service by bakeri, florists and others, lg that potential ctomers are entled to equal treatment, at least parts of the untry wh laws forbiddg discrimatn based on sexual orientatn. The Supreme Court lg on a California law known as Proposn 8 me down to a legal technily but has huge practil effect — rtorg gay marriage the natn’s most populo urt led that proponents of Proposn 8, a ban on gay marriage passed by California voters 2008, did not have the legal right to fend the law the feral Jtice John Roberts, wrg for the urt, said that the proponents — the people who put Proposn 8 on the ballot — had no “personal stake” fendg , at least no more than other ordary cizens of California.

WILL CALIFORNIA PROTECT GAY MARRIAGE S NSTUTN?

” This lg effectively blocked feral urts om lg on same-sex marriage for s, leavg the cisn solely the hands of stat, which alt blow after blow to those hopg to see gay marriage beg 1973, for stance, Maryland beme the first state to create a law that explicly f marriage as a unn between a man and woman, a belief held by many nservative relig groups. In 1989, the San Francis Board of Supervisors passed an ordance that allowed homosexual upl and unmarried heterosexual upl to register for domtic partnerships, which granted hospal visatn rights and other years later, the District of Columbia siarly passed a new law that allowed same-sex upl to register as domtic partners. C., 1993, the hight urt Hawaii led that a ban on same-sex marriage may vlate that state nstutn’s Equal Protectn Clse—the first time a state urt has ever ched toward makg gay marriage Hawaii Supreme Court sent the se—brought by a gay male uple and two lbian upl who were nied marriage licens 1990—back for further review to the lower First Circu Court, which 1991 origally dismissed the the state tried to prove that there was “pellg state tert” jtifyg the ban, the se would be tied up ligatn for the next three Defense of Marriage Act Opponents of gay marriage, however, did not s on their hnch.

CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR

That is, even if a state ma gay marriage legal, same-sex upl still wouldn’t be able to file e tax jotly, sponsor spo for immigratn benefs or receive spoal Social Secury payments, among many other act was a huge setback for the marriage equaly movement, but transient good news arose three months later: Hawaii Judge Kev S.

GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Phg for Change: Civil Unns The next saw a whirlwd of activy on the gay marriage ont, begng wh the year 2000 when Vermont beme the first state to legalize civil unns, a legal stat that provis most of the state-level benefs of years later, Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage when the Massachetts Supreme Court led that same-sex upl had the right to marry Goodridge v. For the first time the untry’s history, voters (rather than judg or legislators) Mae, Maryland, and Washgton approved Constutnal amendments permtg same-sex marriage marriage also beme a feral issue 2010, Massachetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, found Sectn 3 of DOMA—the part of the 1996 law that fed marriage as a unn between one man and one woman—to be unnstutnal. Wdsor, nservative Jtice Anthony Kennedy sid wh Jtic Ruth Bar Gsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan favor of same-sex marriage rights, ultimately makg gay marriage legal across the natn June this time, was still outlawed only 13 stat, and more than 20 other untri had already legalized gay marriage, startg wh the Netherlands December 2000.

CODELL: Could I jt add that when the state of California sets up two systems of fay law, marriage and domtic partnership, and says to gay upl, “you go over here” and says to heterosexual upl, “you go over here, ” the state of California is sayg to our iends, our neighbors, our fay, our ernment actors, that sexual orientatn is a valid basis for distguishg between people and for distguishg between fai. But I want to lift up the majory’s opn this ntext, sce go to the specific qutn: the majory’s opn looked very refully and, I thk, que rpectfully to the nversatn that has been unrway the General Assembly and elsewhere, seeg the march favor of sensivy and protectn of gay and lbian dividual liberty terts and their tert havg particular kds of protected relatnships.

Now, the studi are much too recent on whether those studi translate so that stable gay relatnships should be treated as blogil relatnships or as step-relatnships, but to take that social science lerature and say there’s absolutely no ratnal basis for makg the judgment that maybe the blogil parent nnectn is what’s most relevant producg the most optimal suatn for raisg children, I thk ’s jt not staable, certaly not unr the way we tradnally approach ratnal basis review. Media ptn, Print Obama: "This lg will strengthen all our muni"However, Christian nservativ nmned the Arkansas ernor and printial ndidate Mike Huckabee lled "an out-of-ntrol act of unnstutnal, judicial tyranny" Kellie Fiedorek, a lawyer for an anti-gay marriage advocy group, said the cisn "ignored the voic of thoands of Amerins" Abbott, the ernor of Texas, a state where marriag licenc will now be issued to same-sex upl, said the jtic "have imposed on the entire untry their personal views on an issue that the Constutn and the Court's prev cisns rerve to the people of the stat" ptn, Emotn of wners and losers outsi Supreme CourtAt the scene - Pl Blake, BBC NewsLoud cheers epted outsi the urt after the lg was announced, and there were tears, hugs, and cheers of "USA USA USA!

PROP 8 LG EXPLAED: WHY GAY MARRIAGE WILL RUME CALIFORNIA

"It's my hope that gay marriage will soon be a thg of the past, and om this day forward will simply be 'marriage, '" an emotnal Mr Obergefell said outsi the source, APImage ptn, Coupl some parts of Texas were able to get marriedStat affected: Alabama, Arkansas, Geia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, most of Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oh, South Dakota, Tennsee and first state to allow same-sex marriage was Massachetts, which granted the right 2004.

Supreme Court agreed to review a number of feral appeals urt cisns on same-sex marriage: one strikg down part of the feral Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which f marriage as a unn between a man and a woman, and another validatg California’s Proposn 8, a ballot measure passed 2008 that amend the state’s nstutn to ban gay marriage.

GAY MARRIAGE

While all laws legalizg same-sex marriage nta some nscience protectns allowg church and other relig groups to refe to marry gay and lbian upl, the legal ground is murkier for religly affiliated anizatns, such as hospals, schools and other social-service provirs, that may not want to grant benefs to the spoe of an employee a same-sex marriage or provi adoptn and other servic to a gay or lbian uple that are routely provid to heterosexual upl.

CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS COULD REMOVE IT NEXT YEAR

Lol officials are now required to issue licens that have the words "Party A" and "Party B" where "bri" and "groom" ed to San Francis, Mayor Gav Newsom, who helped lnch the seri of lawsus that led the urt to strike down California's one-man-one-woman marriage laws, prid at the weddg of lbian rights activists Del Mart, 87, and Phyllis Lyon, cheered when they emerged outsi Newsom's office after the of upl gathered outsi the clerks offic Alameda, Sonoma and Yolo unti, where hours were extend to acmodate gay upl who wanted to be among the first to marry.

US SUPREME COURT L GAY MARRIAGE IS LEGAL NATNWI

"There really is not another issue out there that has gaed so much support so fast, " said Charl Jough, natnal prs secretary for Human Rights Campaign, a civil rights anizatn that works for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr equal gas marriage equaly have been a victory for not jt gay upl, but for their sce Ben Wt and Pl Rummell of Portland, Ore., started fosterg an 8-year-old named Jay 2012, the ltle boy who had been passed om foster home to foster home had one qutn: "When am I gog to have a forever fay?

"The lg brought validy to [Jay's] forever fay, that we as a society regnize his fay is important and that we're takg on the rponsibily to raise this child that didn't get the right start at life and we're makg sure that he has every opportuny to grow and be a wonrful, healthy person, " the 35-year-old Wt said, chokg Wt and Rummell met 2006, they've seen a huge change attus toward gay rights. Gay marriage is allowed, and the public perceptnBis Oregon and Pennsylvania, the stat allow gay marriage: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Illois, Mae, Maryland, Massachetts, Mnota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexi, New York, Rho Island, Vermont, and other stat allow civil unns or domtic partnerships for same-sex upl: Colorado, Nevada and trend toward gay marriage has picked up steam. "Sce public opn on the issue is changg so much, the polics of whether mak sense to ntue spendg lns of dollars taxpayer money on this issue is changg, " said Jam Esseks, director of the ACLU Lbian Gay Bisexual Transgenr & AIDS the g months, five feral appeals urts will nsir ne marriage equaly s om Utah, Oklahoma, Nevada, Texas, Virgia, Tennsee, Kentucky, Oh and last summer's Supreme Court lg on the Defense of Marriage Act and Prop 8, two historic marriage s, not a sgle state marriage ban has survived a feral urt challenge.

GAY MARRIAGE IS LEGAL IN CALIFORNIA

It don't open up the box for all the stat that have banned gay marriage and never had gay marriage on the urt here said look, the stat quo California was that there was gay marriage and that the other parts of the law provid absolute equaly wh marriage and that therefore the only thg that Prop 8 took away om people was the unique stat of beg married, and that and of self was a kd of discrimatory the urt poted to Colorado, which the 1990s tried to do the same - a siar kd of thg by takg away om lol jurisdictns the power to have antidiscrimatn statut and said - the Supreme Court said you n't do that.

THE NEXT STEP FOR CALIFORNIA'S GAY MARRIAGE BAN

TOTENBERG: Well, 's not a - if the urt had said there is a fundamental right to marry for gays and lbians as well as straights, that would have meant that every place wt of the Rocki, which is where the Nth Circu operat, those are the stat vered by the Nth Circu, gay marriage would have been legal unr the laws of the - spe the laws of those is not the se here. It only tak the vot of four jtic to hear a se, and 's jt a qutn whether there are four members of the urt who want to get to this And also, for s effect California, now as I unrstand , the stay, which put a hold on gay marriage California, that stay is gog to be effect for - they're gog to keep effect for a while longer, right?

SUPREME COURT EXTENDS GAY-MARRIAGE RIGHTS WH TWO RULGS

It's unfortunate that we have to have that nversatn a state that has such a reputatn of Rob, let me ask you about that Iowa, and I want to brg up the church too, bee I don't know if you heard, but we had a ll earlier om someone Hawaii who was sort of makg the argument that if you leave to the church, that wouldn't be such a divisive issue bee he's an Epispalian and his church is very welg to people who want to get married, gay upl who want to get I'm wonrg what are you fdg, Rob - and we're hearg somethg very different om Mnota - what are you fdg, Rob, Iowa terms of the church' volvement and also terms of what Tim has been talkg about, which is tertg, which is what's gog on on a sort of personal level between people, wh fai, neighbors, iends?

CALIFORNIA UPHOLDS GAY MARRIAGE BAN

May 26, 2009— -- The California Supreme Court has upheld Proposn 8, the ntroversial ballot iative that banned same-sex marriage the state of the same time, the lg allows about 18, 000 same-sex upl who'd already married to reta the rights they attaed durg the brief six-month perd that gay marriage was legal the state.

"We will give tn and legal support as part of a broad effort all over the state to provi greater visibily on why this issue is important and why there is no basis the fear mongerg om the other si, " Pizer told ntent mpaign pted gay rights activists agast Christian church groups, cludg the Mormon church, which raised a rerd $83 ln to pass the iative. Gay Marriage Legal Five StatOpponents of Proposn 8 argued that revised the California's equal protectn clse to such a dramatic gree that s sponsors need the legislature's approval to subm to several jtic at a March hearg said they were skeptil of that argument and, the end, the Supreme Court did not unrme the state's cizen the passage of Proposn 8, gay marriage has gaed momentum around the natn. Mormons Raised FundsThe Mormon Church has bee one of the key targets of prottors after was revealed that their members ntributed lns of dollars to feat gay like Tony Perks, print of the Fay Rearch Council, a nservative Christian lobby based Washgton, joed the fight to pass the ban, sayg was "more important than the printial electn.

GAY MARRIAGE BAN OVERTURNED

Pete Wilson lg ced a 60-year-old precent that stck down a ban on terracial marriage three dissentg jtic argued that was up to the electorate or the Legislature to ci whether gays should be permted to 2000, 61% of California voters approved a ballot measure, Proposn 22, that said “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and regnized California.

Several stat later passed nstutnal amendments banng gay marriage, and same-sex marriage beme an issue the race for a month of jubilant gay weddgs here, the California Supreme Court tervened and orred the cy to stop issug licens to same-sex state high urt later validated the licens, sayg the cy should have waed for a judicial lg before plan by San Francis Mayor Gav Newsom, Cy Atty.

WHY DO THE SUPREME COURT’S CISNS ON GAY MARRIAGE MATTER TO YOU?

One of the first upl to wed has sce long para of weddgs at Cy Hall -- across the street om the California Supreme Court -- provid a dramatic backdrop for the gay rights the issue moved to the high urt, Brad Sears, executive director of the Williams Instute at UCLA’s law school, which exam sexual orientatn and the law, said the state’s broad domtic partner law had unrcut the tradnal argument that children were better off beg raised by oppose-sex parents.

”The urt nclud that givg gays a separate stutn -- domtic partnership -- “marked gays and lbians as send-class cizens, ” Sears Massachetts high urt lg that permted gays there to marry did not give sexual orientatn the same kd of nstutnal protectn that Thursday’s cisn did, nor was the Massachetts lg as explic statg that marriage licens mt be given to same-sex upl the immediate future, legal analysts said recent polls show that Californians are divid over same-sex marriage.

That will have to be worked out wh 26I believe love, and the abily to formally regnize that love, is an unalienable human 26It is a step the directn of gay cizens beg treated equally unr the law, and of beg treated wh full human rpect society at 26This will e my tax bill to crease sce I am a "tradnal" marriage and we will be grantg spoal benefs to people who did not have them before. It is unnscnable that so many of our cizens are unable to take advantage of the legal, cultural and personal benefs of 26I n now put my wife and step-son on my health surance and my fay is protected if somethg happens to me (feral ath benefs) 26My gay and lbian iends should be able to marry their partners, and I have yet to hear an argument agast gay marriage that don't pivot on relig beliefs, which should be a personal 26Life, liberty, and the pursu of happs. June 26We needs share benefs earned by ourselv and njot; 's simple jtice or social equalizer between 26I feel that Ameri has lost s way, takg an immoral life style and standg behd shame on our unts mak me sick to my 26Gay marriage ntradicts the teachgs of both Mos and J the Bible, which has always been the moral thory chosen by the Amerin people.