In a widely anticipated decision, the Supreme Court of the State of California voted 6–1 to uphold Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment adopted by voters in November that stripped the right of gay couples to wed. The same court had ruled such unions legal in March of last year. The narrow silver lining on this decision — which, according to Chief Justice Ronald M. George, still allows gays the right to enter into civil unions — was the part of the decision that let stand the roughly 18,000 same-sex nuptials that were performed while it was legal. This irregular setup will then leave some gay couples with rights equal to those of straight couples, and some without — serving as, at the very least, a glaring reminder of the inequality on the books in that state. It’s our experience that those kinds of inconsistencies do not go unchallenged, for better or for worse, for long.
California Supreme Court Upholds Ban on Same-Sex Marriage [NYT]
