A federal judge in California ruled this week that the contentious 2008 voter referendum Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the state, was unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker handed down his long-awaited ruling Aug. 4, finding that Prop. 8 violated both same-sex couples’ equal-protection and due-process constitutional rights.
Walker wrote that the plaintiffs demonstrated the constitutional violations by “overwhelming evidence.”
“Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license,” Walker wrote. “Indeed the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California constitution the notion that opposite sex couples are superior to same sex couples.”
On Thursday, attorneys defending Prop. 8 filed an appeal, and the case will next move to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. It is expected to eventually come before the U.S. Supreme Court.
In his opinion, Walker ordered the state to cease enforcing Prop. 8, but did issue a temporary stay, which expires Aug. 6, while he considers whether same-sex marriages should be allowed to proceed throughout the appeal process.
Two same-sex couples, Kristin Perry and Sandy Stier and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, filed the suit in May 2009 after being denied marriage licenses. Marriage equality had been legal in the state from May 2008 until November of that year, when voters approved Prop. 8.
Conservative attorney Theodore Olson joined with his opponent in the 2000 Bush v. Gore Supreme Court case, David Boies, to represent the two couples. The pair presented a series of 16 civil-rights experts, psychologists, historians and LGBT individuals during the January trial, who cited the benefits of marriage equality, while the defense presented just two witnesses.
Perhaps already anticipating the ruling, defense attorneys submitted the motion for a stay Tuesday night to prevent same-sex couples from seeking marriage licenses pending the appeal because of the “harms that would flow from another purported window of same-sex marriage in California.”
LGBT activists took to the streets in California and across the nation Wednesday night, holding celebratory rallies from San Francisco to New York City, and everyone from entertainers like Ellen DeGeneres and Cyndi Lauper to politicians like Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Republican San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders issues statements in support of the ruling.
A spokesperson for President Obama, who does not support marriage equality, said the president “has spoken out in opposition to Proposition 8 because it is divisive and discriminatory. He will continue to promote equality for LGBT Americans.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].