COL128: Unlawful proposition

The recent denial of a stay in California’s Prop 8 case gets us talking about the quest for equality, while recent violence in DC gives us a reason to worry. We also get into a quick round-up of mobile bear sites…and…Neil Patrick Harris is having twins!

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COL News

Recent anti-gay violence shakes Washington D.C.
Stay to keep Prop 8 alive denied! In effect 8/18, 1700 PDT Proponents do not adequately explain the basis for their belief that marriages performed absent a stay would suffer from a “cloud of uncertainty.”
Proponents’ intervention in the district court does not provide them with standing to appeal.
“The evidence presented at trial does not support proponents’ position on domestic partnerships; instead, the evidence showed that domestic partnership is an inadequate and discriminatory substitute for marriage.”
Proponents claim that plaintiffs’ desire to marry is not “urgent,” because they chose not to marry in 2008. Whether plaintiffs choose to exercise their right to marry now is a matter that plaintiffs, and plaintiffs alone, have the right to decide.
Proponents also point to the public interest as reflected in the votes of “the people of California” who do not want same-sex couples to marry, explaining that “[t]here is no basis for this Court to second-guess the people of California’s considered judgment of the public interest.” The Governor states that “[a]llowing the Court’s judgment to take effect serves the public interest” in “[u]pholding the rights and liberties guaranteed by the federal Constitution” and in “eradicating unlawful discrimination.”
The evidence presented at trial and the position of the representatives of the State of California show that an injunction against enforcement of Proposition 8 is in the public’s interest. Accordingly, the court concludes that the public interest counsels against entry of the stay proponents seek.

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