The Supreme Court ruled today that the ban on same sex marriage in California will be upheld. demonstrations were already being held in San Francisco before and after the ruling was announced. Turns out the protests are not going to only located across the bay. Prop 8 protests are scheduled in Concord, Walnut Creek, Danville and other surrounding cities.

I made a point back in November to say that the fight for Prop 8 was not going away anytime soon.

Chief Justice Ronald George wrote that Proposition 8 “by no means makes such a far reaching change in the California Constitution as to amount  to a constitutional revision.”

George also wrote in the 136-page majority opinion that Proposition 8 concerns only access to the term “marriage” and does not affect  same-sex couples’ right to form families in domestic partnerships.

George wrote that gay and lesbian couples continue to have “a constitutional right to enter into an officially recognized and protected  family relationship with the person of one’s choice and to raise children in  that family if the couple so chooses.”

The court majority said that any change in the state’s constitutional definition of marriage “must find its expression at the ballot  box.”

Justice Carlos Moreno said in a dissent he considered Proposition 8 to be a revision because it “strikes at the court of the promise of  equality that underlies our California Constitution.”

A constitutional revision would require approval of two-thirds of the Legislature as well as a majority of state voters.

All seven justices said Proposition 8 was not retroactive for two reasons:  because ballot materials did not unambiguously say it was  retroactive and because invalidating previous same-sex marriages would take  away vested property rights.

The court said that applying Proposition 8 retroactively would  “disrupt thousands of actions” taken by married same-sex couples, “throwing  property rights in disarray (and) destroying the legal interests and  expectations of thousands of couples and their families.” – Source

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today issued the following statement after the California Supreme Court issued its ruling on Proposition 8:

“While I believe that one day either the people or courts will recognize gay marriage, as Governor of California I will uphold the decision of the California Supreme Court. Regarding the 18,000 marriages that took place prior to Proposition 8’s passage, the Court made the right decision in keeping them intact. I also want to encourage all those responding to today’s Court decision to do so peacefully and lawfully.”

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