Prop. 8 Likely to Stand

Bad news for anti-Proposition 8 activists: As of Thursday afternoon, it appeared that the California Supreme Court was hesitant to overturn the gay marriage ban. However, it might be the case that the court will allow existing marriages to remain legally valid.

Los Angeles Times:

During a three-hour televised hearing in San Francisco, only two of the court’s seven justices indicated a possible readiness to overturn the initiative. Chief Justice Ronald M. George noted that the court was following a different Constitution when it approved gay marriage last May.

“Today we have a different state Constitution,” he said.

Justice Joyce L. Kennard, who usually votes in favor of gay rights, voted against accepting the revision challenge to Proposition 8 but said she would hear arguments over the validity of existing same-sex marriages.

Kennard said during the hearing that “Prop. 8 did not take away the whole bundle of rights that this court articulated in the marriage case.”

She said that “a very important holding” – giving sexual orientation the same constitutional status as race or gender – was not changed.

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