So today is the day that Federal Judge Vaughn Walker decides whether or not Prop 8 is unconstitutional. So in a few hours we will have the outcome of his decision. I'm hoping for the best outcome.

(CNN) -- A federal judge in California is expected to issue his ruling Wednesday on whether the state's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

The closely watched case, to be decided by Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, comes some two years after Californians voted to pass Proposition 8, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Wednesday's ruling, expected in the early afternoon, will decide whether that ban violates the U.S. Constitution by creating separate classes of people with different laws for each.
Though stakes in the case are high, neither opponents nor supporters of same-sex marriage say Walker's ruling will likely be the last. Both sides say the decision will be appealed and eventually wind up in the U.S. Supreme Court.

"We have little doubt that this trial judge is going to knock down Prop. 8. I hope I'm proven wrong tomorrow," said Maggie Gallagher, chairman of the National Organization for Marriage. "This has been a judge that looks pretty eager to make a historic decision."

She added Walker's ruling will likely have national implications as he is a federal judge.

Rick Jacobs, founder of the Campaign Courage, which supports same-sex marriage, said he was hopeful about Wednesday's decision because of what happened during the trial.

"I can only say that based on the evidence in the trial, it is absolutely clear that allowing gays and lesbians to marry will strengthen families and the nation," he said. "No matter how the judge rules tomorrow, we've already won a significant victory because the other side admitted they have no argument."

Jacobs said if the case is appealed, it would go next to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals before possibly heading to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is expected to set legal precedent that would result in a landmark decision that could settle whether people in the United States can marry people of the same sex.

Kristin Perry and Sandy Stier, along with Jeffrey Zarrillo and Paul Katami, are the two couples at the heart of the case. They had asked Walker to issue an injunction against Proposition 8's enforcement.

Proposition 8 is part of a long line of seesaw rulings, court cases, debates and protests in California over the contentious issue of same-sex marriage. It passed with some 52 percent of the vote in November 2008.

"Whatever happens tomorrow is the beginning -- not the end," said Jacobs.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/08/04/cal...ing/index.html

I so hope Prop 8 gets taken out!

Please, get rid of this stupid ****ing law. Whether homosexuality is to be condemned or not, is not for us to decide. It is God's decision. Allowing gay marriage does not mean that EVERYONE has to be gay, so if someone feels like homosexuality is "wrong," fine. Don't be gay. But you have ZERO right to infringe upon the happiness of other people who don't agree with you.

Judge not, lest ye be judged.

Please get rid of this!

+1

We should be finding out any minute now. *crosses my fingers*

People are so stupid.

Yay! It's overturned!

Source: CNN

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank goodness that **** was not passed!!!

Judge strikes down Prop. 8, allows gay marriage in California [Updated] | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

Judge strikes down Prop. 8, allows gay marriage in California [Updated]
August 4, 2010 | 1:48 pm
A federal judge in San Francisco decided today that gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry, striking down Proposition 8, the voter approved ballot measure that banned same-sex unions.

U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker said Proposition 8, passed by voters in November 2008, violated the federal constitutional rights of gays and lesbians to marry the partners of their choice. His ruling is expected to be appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

[Updated at 1:54 p.m.: "Plaintiffs challenge Proposition 8 under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment," the judge wrote. "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."

Vaughn added: "Plaintiffs seek to have the state recognize their committed relationships, and plaintiffs’ relationships are consistent with the core of the history, tradition and practice of marriage in the United States.“

Ultimately, the judge concluded that Proposition 8 "fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples. … Because Proposition 8 prevents California from fulfilling its constitutional obligation to provide marriages on an equal basis, the court concludes that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.”]


Walker, an appointee of President George H.W. Bush, heard 16 witnesses summoned by opponents of Proposition 8 and two called by proponents during a 2½-week trial in January.

Walker’s historic ruling in Perry vs. Schwarzenegger relied heavily on the testimony he heard at trial. His ruling listed both factual findings and his conclusions about the law.

Voters approved the ban by a 52.3% margin six months after the California Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was permitted under the state Constitution.


The state high court later upheld Proposition 8 as a valid amendment to the state Constitution.

An estimated 18,000 same-sex couples married in California during the months that it was legal, and the state continues to recognize those marriages.

The federal challenge was filed on behalf of a gay couple in Southern California and a lesbian couple in Berkeley. They are being represented by former Solicitor General Ted Olson, a conservative, and noted litigator David Boies, who squared off against Olson in Bush vs. Gore.

A Los Angeles-based group formed to fight Proposition 8 has been financing the litigation.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown refused to defend Proposition 8, prodding the sponsors of the initiative to hire a legal team experienced in U.S. Supreme Court litigation.

Backers of Proposition 8 contended that the legal burden was on the challengers to prove there was no rational justification for voting for the measure. They cited as rational a view that children fare best with both a father and a mother.

But defense witnesses conceded in cross-examination that studies show children reared from birth by same-sex couples fared as well as those born to opposite-sex parents and that marriage would benefit the families of gays and lesbians.

-- Maura Dolan in San Francisco

It's everybody's status on facebook right now

Nice to know.

Come on Patrick, lets go get married.

I really hope one day that America can reach true equality.

Not for long, the old people will N0T have it!

FINALLY! IT'S ABOUT TIME

They'd be all dead before they could try and overturn this.