The judges of the 9th Circuit court in California agreed that the ballot initiative, Proposition 8, violates the 14th Amendment and that they could find no “legitimate reason” for the law to be in force.
The judges released this statement:
“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.”
Only one of the three judges disagreed with the decision. Of course, that judge was appointed by George W. Bush and such a decision was expected.
Unfortunately, gay marriage in California will still not take place at this time. This ruling is only a minor victory in the grand scheme of things as the ruling did not successfully reinstate gay marriages based on the fact that it had once been denied under the California Constitution.
However, the basic principle behind the ruling is that ”The people may not employ the initiative power to single out a disfavored group and strip them, without a legitimate justification, of a right as important as a right to marry.”
I think that’s all the reason we need.
