We won. Prop 8 declared unconstitutional by federal judge.

I know - I celebrated with a few friends. They all expected to hear from me. The fight is far from over, but the ruling was so encouraging. :-)

It was a great win for equality. I am a straight ally, but I firmly believe that an injustice done somewhere is an injustice done everywhere. Kudos to Judge Walker.

But it can be if the "perks" are the same. Which would amount to a change in tax law and that's about it.

Ooh forget to add. It is the State law that is being sued not the Federal government. So, the fact that the Federal government doesn't recognize gay marriage is irrelevant in this particular case. In fact the only reason I pointed it out was to show the current climate in Washington is not favorable to making a new amendment. So long as California is giving them the same "perks" as married couples, then the 14th Amendment argument is no longer valid. I really think that this is what the judge is looking at. Comparing the domestic partnership laws with the marriage laws.

A much fuller victory than you think. Marriage regulation may be a State function, but equal protection under the law is indeed a federal power, per the 14th Amendment. The court's finding of fact that marriage is a fundamental right is huge. The fact that the federal government doesn't recognize gay marriage means that domestic partnership cannot be regarded as equal to marriage.

I am excited, a great step forward. Naturally, it is going to appeals court, but the decision was very uplifting. So much mylotting to catch up on....

I couldn't agree more. And, I love your quote, "I may be a humanist, but I am still so sickened by much of humanity." I am just getting back into the mylot swing, and words excite me, and that quote echoes.

Am I missing something here? I was under the impression that myLot was for everyone, not just left-wing liberals. This is an open forum and if you start a discussion, especially a political or religious one, you should be prepared to see comments from those with a different viewpoint. I very carefully read all comments here and guess what I dicovered? All derogatory comments and name-calling came from the left wing side. Imagine that. You say we are haters, yet you are the ones so inflamed and incensed when we try to give our viewpoint. You just don't want to listen to our opinion. The words I read in your posts and those who agree with you include: "ignorant, hate, shut it, loathesome, bs, idiotic, lame, brainwashed, hater-ade, known around myLot as nutters drinking Kool-aid". Now, who are the real haters? If you would only realize that we don't hate anyone, quite the opposite. And because of that we will continue to voice our opinions in an open forum just as you do. And now I am speaking to you right-wingers. I heard a quote that said, "Evil abounds when good men do nothing". Don't sit back and just read and silently agree. Voice your opinion one way or the other. There IS power in numbers and as long as we still have the right to vote, then vote! Even though this Judge overturned the people's choice your vote is still very important. I think one of our worst enemies is apathy. If you get too comfortable in your easy chair things will be done that you won't like at all. It is happening right under your nose at this very moment. Take a stand. Please.

Thanks for your post! It's mostly the religious fanatics who hate marriage equality. It doesn't make sense to me either - I live in a part of California that is fairly liberal, but the haters spewed their bs in my town, and layered rows of "yes on 8" signs wherever they could, and spread their idiotic lies throughout our state (like schools will give explicit homosexual detail to five year olds and people were losing their freedom of speech). The rallies were painful, but I went as often as I could. You can not communicate with the haters. They are not human. Or if they are, they are so badly scarred from something and heavily brainwashed. I attended quite a few rallies, and in some, you would see religious people there, rallying against prop 8, so its not all the religious people. (I say that because I am a professed atheist and don't want to appear like all religious people are to blame.) Those posting in support of prop 8 here are known around mylot as being the nutters and drinking the kool-aid, so I don't pay them much mind. A lot of those posting in support of our victory fall right wing, and that pleases me greatly, because I am somewhat on the left wing. I am glad to see that marriage equality is important to both primary parties - just not the religious fanatics. I don't quite know how the fanatics keep popping up everywhere with their hate and scare tactics. Perhaps because no one banned their marriage, and they reproduced and instilled intolerance in their own offspring. I totally get that it makes you "hate people" when you don't want to. I have actually said that on several posts here at mylot. This was just a very nasty proposition. And I am glad it was struck down. But, realistically, it will resurface, and those drinking the hater-ade will be equipped with new scare tactics and lies. And large funds.

Yeah, sadly, you all will still have to go to the Supreme Court because the bigots will still try to fight to keep Prop 8 legal. You are certainly going to have a fight on your hands.

I am so thrilled! Congrats to your family! I love love, I do. I want to get married, and my boyfriend and I plan to, as soon as all of our fellow citizens can. I know we are not in the clear just yet, and it is still an uphill battle. Organizations are actually trying to have the judge impeached, people are holding pictures of nooses saying that should be the solution to gay marriage, etc. The bigots are rallying and raising funds. But this ruling meant something to me. It renewed the motivation I need to keep supporting my friends and neighbours. I was down in the dumps for a while about this.

I am a straight supporter, and I don't believe in god, but even if I did, my god would recognize all as created equal. We all have the right to be who we are, as you said. You believe in a different god than I do, but I won’t call you abnormal and then request a truce. I would accept you for who you are, and accept it as normal for who you are. I can invite you to celebrate diversity with me. But, I won't go out of my way to classify anyone's being as normal or not normal. Life is too short for classifications and judgments like that.

@Netsbridge: I don't care if you recognize gay marriages as legitimate, just so long as the law recognizes them as legitimate, and your failure to recognize their legitimacy doesn't result in your denying married gay couples any of the rights and privileges under the law that pertain to marriage. If you're cool with that, truce. If not, it's on.

The sad part is the youth is wiser than some of those of voting age. We have a lot of people who wanted to vote NO, and were eager to, but were only 17. Not laziness. Not as much money as out of state funded churches, and not as much momentum yet, because we were still recovering from the yes on 8's lies and misinformation. The NO on 8 side has been canvassing, and the majority is flipped into equality's favour, now that people who did support the prop know they were wrong. As always, taskr - it's a pleasure chatting with you. I have been sick, terribly so, so this is the news I needed to enlighten me. Not even you can spoil it for me.

Let me add though-marriage is over-rated and I'd never do it again, but each to his own!

Rock on! I am pleased to hear we agree on this. I am glad you pointed out this is the same rights as others. Marriage is not for everyone, but everyone should have that right to decide.

Since myLot is an open forum, I have as much right to voice my opinion as you have to voice yours. The force is not having to marry but having to acknowledge homosexual couples as "married" when the definition of marriage is a union between a man and a woman. By insisting that they be classified as "married" rather than having a contract with their partner or having a civil union, the homosexual community is trying to legitimize by force their union as natural both in the secular and religious community whether or not either or any of these communities want to accept it. I don't blame homosexuals fighting for certain rights, like the right of inheritance or being the one in the hospital room when their partner is dying, but I do object to a judge trying to force anyone to accept something that they find unacceptable.

ladybugmagic: I don't find you "loathesome" just because we have a difference of opinion. As I understand it from your response to me, you expect me to be tolerant of your views while you get to be intolerant of mine. There is nothing I can do, nor would I do anything to prevent homosexuals from functioning as "married," but when the voters have voted a particular way and one person, even if he is a judge, negates the votes of the majority, that judge is trying to force the voters to accept what the voters find unacceptable. Since there is nothing in the United States Constitution regarding "marriage," no Constitutional rights have been violated. As I said before, I don't blame homosexuals for wanting particular rights, but I do object to homosexuals trying to legitimize their lifestyle by force. The homosexuals have bullied their way into almost every aspect of our lives. Neither you nor I nor an individual judge should have the right to force their position on someone else. That's why Proposition 8 was put to a vote, and it irritates me when the will of the people is overturned by the courts. You would feel the same way if the situation was reversed.

That would be all nice and dandy except for the fact that you cannot have two things that mean the same thing called by a different name, why are people so obsessed with a definition of a mad up word, this has nothing to do with religion at all, and when i said stay out of it i meant gay peoples private lives!

There isn't. This was simply an activist judge. The pro-gay marriage crowd latched onto this as it's easier to get one person to be an activist judge than to get the young and lazy people who are the majority of pro-gay marriage people to get off their a$$es and vote.

Because, BestBoy, specifically excluding gays from the government endorsed institution of marriage violates the 14th amendment right to equal protection of the law.

I didn't realize the government had endorsed the institution of marriage. Where is that is the Constitution?

I don't care that gay folk marry. What always got me about the issue was the way in which "rights" were fought for. We don't need the bickering. As for jobs, hopefully 2010 will bring a better solution than allowing business people to open a line of credit! I can't speak for everyone, obviously, but as an individual running my own business, which isn't even really a "small" business w/employees, per se, the last thing I want to do is take out a loan. I want to profittttttttT. And if I can't profit on what I'm doing, I want to move on to something else and profit there. The last thing I want is some suit in Washington saying, basically, "Hey, I feel your pain. Now, go on down to the bank and get a high-interest loan to help you get through these tough times. Oh, by the way: we'll give you some relief on capital gains before we stick it to you later down the road." But this is a whole separate issue.

I am in the "lucky" category. I am straight, blonde hair, blue eyes. My right to marry has never been in jeopardy, nor any of my other civil rights. I was born in a decade where women were already allowed to vote, etc. But, if anyone ever told me that my marrying my soulmate would devalue the sanctity of their marriage, I would more than bicker. It would start with the "Excuuuuse me?!" with the accompanying head bobble and finger wave. Then the sleeves would go up. I would not get violent; I would point out how empty their lives and their marriage must be if my life and marriage had such a grave effect on theirs. I know its off the subject at hand, but, I think you should write a novel. I would buy it. Message me later. We could co-autor it.

It's not progress at all.

It will be. Maybe not in my lifetime, but the US will pass a federal law granting marriage equality and recognition to all our citizens. Can't stop progress.

I am really excited. It's a small, but meaningful victory. :-)