California approves same sex marriage

Congratulations California. It is nice to know that another state is more interested in the civil rights of its citizens than it is with the religious right. Especially since our federal constitution prohibits the government from making laws concerning religion.

Same-Sex Marriage: News & Videos about Same-Sex Marriage - CNN.com

hey, anybody wanna move to cali with me and get married!!!!!

Congrats to you all! Its about time this country woke up and realised this is the 21st century, rather then the 19th century. I wish you all the best in the world

OH SHIT. I didn't even know about this and I'm a native Californian. Man, American Idol is ruining my life.

It's about time. :)
A good reason to move there, aside from the great weather. <3

Yes, it's time to celebrate again! I'm excited. Yet....

Hey, let's watch it though. Someone has 1,000,000 signatures on a measure to get an amendment before voters this Fall to change the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman.

It's not over here, unfortunately. We still have the hate mongerers of Orange County and the Central Valley to deal with... Let's make sure they get defeated in the Fall...

Oh, and get out the vote on June 3rd. the special primary... Important propositions are out there on the ballet again.

Actually, this has nothing to do with religion. Nice try.

California voters debated for years on this, and voted on it, and voted against it clearly. And then 7 political-bent judges overturned the will of the ppl.

I am pro-whatever marriage. But this an awful precedence.

What's the use of voting, when the "Rose Birds" (Californians know whom she is) can empower their political leanings.

I always felt this could be brought up for vote again, doing it the RIGHT way... and it would win, as slim as this 4-3 margin, but still win.

THIS IS SO WRONG

I'm glad to see that this has happened - now all I need to know is if me and my man can move over to cali and get hitched USA-style! yaaay!

Yes, be concerned about disgruntled social conservatives who will try to "legistlate" the issue and put gay marriage to a vote. That issue came up again in the 2006 state elections here in Massachusetts, even though gay marriage was first established in 2004. (Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, former GOP presidential candidate, tried to lead the ballot initiative against marriage. Luckily, the MA legislature systematically and procedurally moved it to the last item in the legislative season, and the districts of MA voted on the motion to remove the item from the legislative docket. It effectively killed the effort).

California's advancement of civil rights in tremendous. It may shock the status quo, but trust me, after 4 years of gay marriage in MA, the sky HAS NOT FALLEN. The sun also rises, the Earth still rotates on its axis, and the expansion of civil rights (from gay marriage) has come at the expense of no one.... The same reality will happen in California!

Let me further explain this... many will recall the 2000 Presidential General Election, when it felt like a power grab of state and federal supreme court justices were deciding the outcome of the election, via the pivotal position that Florida became.

That's where the will of the people, the vote, etc... comes into effect. There wasn't much we could do in this case, and thankfully (even per the ultra liberal New York Times detailed analysis) the outcome would of made no difference in either case. This is different.

A liberal judge via a "Duke" appointee nailed it... "Justice Marvin Baxter agreed with many arguments of the majority but said the court overstepped its authority. Changes to marriage laws should be decided by the voters, Baxter wrote."

I vehemently agree.

California has about the 6th largest GDP in world... we are like our own country, our propositions are paramount, and should NEVER be taken so lightly and with such disregard. Often contentious, yet paramount. The California Constitution is the 2nd largest in the world. And so on. The rights prescribed in the California Constitution blow the Bill of Rights out of the water.

7 judges, all pretty much on the same side of the politico fence, overturning and deciding landmark decisions on their own is frightening. It's even more frightening how close this decision was, and the reason for dissension (as mentioned by Justice Baxter), where personal opinion seemed to prevail over spirit of the judicial law. A slap on the hand for California.

It's good. Love is love. It's not limited to man and woman. Whatever your preference is, do you.

There are some uptight, primitive, conservative fools rife with ignorance, who will fight this of course (i.e. that ridiculous 1,000,000 signature idiocy), but hopefully that doesn't stand in the way of progress.

We have to get past ignorant ideals of the past.

And I vehemently disagree. Minority civil rights are among the few issues that should NEVER be decided by popular vote. Otherwise, no minority would ever have any rights at all.

Color me shocked.

As happy as I am that gay people have the right to get married in California now, this decision was way more activist than I had hoped the California SC would be. It almost seems like they said we are allowing this because we want to do it not because it is discriminatory not to allow gay couples to marry.

So lets see, I guess integration should not have happened since state laws prohibited that as well. Blacks should still be sitting on the back of the bus? Inter racial marriages should not be allowed?

It is the legislative's job to protect the civil rights of all of its citizens when laws are passed that take away the rights of part of its population. If the voters decided that Jews or Catholics should not be allowed in the state of California, would you be ok with that as well? Are the people able to vote for anything that they want against other citizens?

The California Supreme court did not vote in favor of gay marriage, they ruled that the legal constitution that was voted by the citizens of California prohibits discrimination against its citizens. The ballot issue was in contradiction with the state constitution.

And btw, the California legislature has voted in favor of gay marriage for the past 3 years only to be vetoed by Governor Swartznager. His reason that he has stated over and over again is that it should go through the judicial process to see whether the ballot measure was constitutional. Guess he got his answer.

If this is not a religious issue, then what is the reason why gay marriage should not be allowed? The only thing I have heard is coming from the Christian right saying marriage is a sacred covenant between God and man. I guess it is a civil right as well to be able to marry someone you love.

Points raised by Judge Andrew Napolitano on Fox News:

The California decision cannot be taken to the U.S. Supreme Court since this is a state issue.

The justices who voted were primarily placed on the court by Republican governors, not leftist ones. They based their decision on the rights of the persons.

Although there is a constitutional amendment possibly pending this November, most likely if it passed the California Supreme Court would rule it invalid, using the same criteria as today's decision.

Finally, Napolitano says this ruling will have an effect on other states, given that California is the most populous state and it's often in the forefront on matters like this.