Getting married in California

When SCOTUS dismissed the California Proposition 8 appeal for lack of standing in those defending Prop8, it returned it to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.   Their decision that Prop8 was unconstitutional thus stands; but the Circuit Court had said it would take 25 days before marriages could occur, because the losing side in a legal dispute usually has 25 days to ask the court to rehear the case.

Today, California's Attorney General, Kamala Harris asked them to speed it up.  Then the Circuit Court surprised everyone by issuing a one sentence order:   the ban on same-sex marriages is lifted immediately.

Within hours, lots of weddings are taking place in California -- the two most prominent being two couples who were plaintiffs in the case that SCOTUS dismissed.

Att. Gen. Harris performed the wedding ceremony for Kris Perry and Sandy Stier this afternoon in the San Francisco City Hall.  Rachel Maddow showed clips of their wedding on her TV show tonight.

Then a few minutes later on her show, Rachel was able to show -- live -- another wedding of two other plaintiffs, Jeff Katami and Paul Zarrillo, performed by Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in the LA City Hall.

What was such a striking aspect of both of these weddings was the shared joy that was so evident in the public officials performing the ceremonies.   This in itself is such a powerful indicator of the changed times we live in.

Only 10 years ago, when SCOTUS struck down the Texas anti-sodomy law, sexual behavior between two men was illegal in 14 states.   And 10 years ago, there was no place in the United States where two people of the same sex could marry.

Now just 10 years later, we have an U. S. President standing up for marriage equality;  and we have the attorney general of the most populous state and the mayor of the second most populous city performing same-sex marriages -- and joining in the obvious outpouring of love and joy over the occasion.  Mayor Villagaraigo actually hugged and kissed the two men after the ceremony.

Wow.   I never thought I would live to see anything like this.

Ralph