9th Circuit Court of Appeals Strikes Down California’s Gay Marriage Ban

The argument over whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry is raging. Seven states have now approved gay marriage, and the President of the United States has taken a stand in favor of the right of same-sex couples to marry. On the other hand, North Carolina passed a law banning same-sex marriage, and other states are attempting to do the same. In California, voters passed Proposition 8, limiting marriage to the union of one man and one woman. However, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently struck down that law on the basis that depriving Gay people of the right to marry is unconstitutional. 

Here is an excerpt of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision, explaining its ruling:

“We emphasize the extraordinary significance of the official designation of ‘marriage.’ That designation is important because ‘marriage’ is the name that society gives to the relationship that matters most between two adults. A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but to the couple desiring to enter into a committed lifelong relationship, a marriage by the name of ‘registered domestic partnership’ does not.

. . . All that Proposition 8 accomplished was to take away from same-sex couples the right to be granted marriage licenses and thus legally to use the designation of ‘marriage,’ which symbolizes state legitimization and societal recognition of their committed relationships. Proposition 8 serves no purpose and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples. The Constitution simply does not allow for ‘laws of this sort.'”  *

 This divisive issue seems destined for the U.S. Supreme Court, where it will be decided once and for all.

* — (9th Circuit Court of Appeals 2012 ruling in Perry v. Brown, striking down California’s Prop. 8, which eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry).