Proposition 8 Overturned By U.S. District Chief Judge in San Francisco

08/05/10

U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker, an appointee of President George H.W. Bush, wrote in his ruling, ''Plaintiffs challenge Proposition 8 under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Each challenge is independently meritorious, as Proposition 8 both unconstitutionally burdens the exercise of the fundamental right to marry and creates an irrational classification on the basis of sexual orientation.''

Over a two and half week trial, Judge Walker heard the testimony of 16 witnesses summoned by challengers of Proposition 8 as well as two summoned by supporters of the proposition. Walker's decision was based on much of the testimony given during the trial. In his ruling, Walker put forth factual findings and his subsequent conclusions about the law.

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Proposition 8 was passed by a 52.3% margin during the 2008 elections. Just six months prior to the passage of Prop 8, the California Supreme Court ruled that denying same-sex marriages was unconstitutional under California state law. Same-sex marriages remained legal until the passage of Prop 8 in November 2008.

During that six-month period, nearly 18,000 same-sex couples were married in California. Those marriages remained legal after the passage of Prop 8, and continue to be recognized by the state of California.

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The suit, which came to be known as Kristin M. Perry v. Arnold Schwarzenegger (or simply Perry v. Schwarzenegger), was filed after two same-sex couples were denied marriage licenses by county clerks. The two couples, Kristin Perry and Sandra Steir, a lesbian couple from Berkeley, and Paul Katami and Jeffrey Zarrillo, a gay couple from Southern California, filed suits against Governor Schwarzenegger as well as Attorney General Jerry Brown and two officials in the Department of Public Health. Representing the couples were former Solicitor General Ted Olsen, known as a conservative, and litigator David Boies, famous for his involvement in Bush v. Gore.

Supporters of Prop 8 contended that children are better off with a mother and a father and not with two parents of the same sex. However, defense witnesses in cross-examination demonstrated that children reared by same-sex couples from birth fared no better or worse to those born to opposite-sex couples and that allowing same-sex marriage would help the families of gays and lesbians.

Despite today's ruling it is almost certain that this highly contentious issue has not been laid to rest; appeals by Prop 8 supporters will almost definitely follow