A judge in California will rule very shortly on whether to lift the stay on his overturning of Proposition 8. Story here. I heard on the news this morning that some people are gearing up to start getting married as soon as today. I have a couple of friends who have been married in their own eyes for 12 years now, but would love to get it done officially.
So I’m just wondering if we have any Dopers who might get to participate should the stay be lifted, which I’m really hoping happens.
Probably not right away, but we likely will at some point. We’re more likely going to wait and see how this plays out with the 9th circuit and SCOTUS.
Erm… why wait?
I’d go ahead and do it. The more people who get married without California crumbling into the sea (you know, assuming that doesn’t happen for unrelated reasons in the meantime) the better. Given that the crux of the opposition argument is that allowing gay marriage is going to lead to the downfall of Western civilization, it’s a good idea to show them in concrete terms that gay marriage is going to be, for the most part, just like straight marriage.
I agree with that logic, but I’ve known other gay/lesbian couples who have said they’d prefer not to have their relationship tied up in legal limbo.
I guess in my mind, however, your relationship already IS tied up in legal limbo just by having your desire to marry be hampered.
You know, it would be kinda funny if God did smite California, and refuse to say why.
Well, anyone who is is going to have to wait until at least 5pm next Wednesday.
Story of stay being lifted [URL=“http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/12/MNFA1ERRMV.DTL&tsp=1”]here.
Based on the precedent set by the passage of Prop 8, it doesn’t appear their relationships would be in legal limbo. The state continued to recognize extant marriages.
I wouldn’t mind doing it right away, but I’m only half of the decision process.
We’ll be signing on the dotted lines as soon as they unleash the hounds of hell again on the sanctity of marriage. We had our commitment ceremony in Zion Nat’l Park 3 years ago (I like to refer to it as our lesbian missionary trip to Utah) but we didn’t shuffle the paperwork fast enough to make the 6 month window prior to Prop 8 passing.
Not until it’s legal in our state . . . if we live that long. Not much optimism here, but we’re working on it.
Where in Zion? It’s incredibly beautiful over there - you have great taste in venues!
Wait, each of you is half of the decision process? Same-sex relationships really are superior!
Seriously though, I hope you can convince your partner. I can see not wanting to be a laboratory case, but Prop 8 passed by appealing to people’s irrational fears of the unknown. The more same-sex couples get married without deleterious effects, the less effective that tactic is going to be.
I hope you don’t mind if we make the basis of our choice to marry our own life situation, and not the political climate? Or am I misunderstanding your post (you seem to be saying that everyone ought to get married, rather than that you yourself plan to)?
I think this could be different from the last window of opportunity. The last time, the court threw out the existing law, and so there was a period of time when there was no law against gay marriage. This time, although the law (amendment) has been thrown out, it is still possible that decision could be reversed on appeal. If it is reversed (legal beagles, please weigh in on this) I think it quite possible that any marriages done in the interim will be deemed to be in violation of that amendment and therefore be null and void. But I’m no lawyer, so I’ll be interested to see what they say.
(I would love to see a thread in GD about the likelihood of SCOTUS to uphold or overturn this decision, assuming it gets that far. Enormous implications for DOMA and other such federal laws, I would think.)
Anyway, to answer the question in the OP, I think it may be time. I would have to persuade my partner, and I suspect if we do, it will just be something at the county clerk’s office.
Roddy
More so that everyone who wants to should get married, without worrying about what the future will bring. First off, as mentioned upthread, there’s no real legal limbo–the state still recognizes those marriages that were legal before Prop 8, and there’s no reason they won’t continue to do so after the stay is lifted if the appeal is lost. Secondly, there’s no point in living in fear of what the future might bring–the whole crazy thing about being married is that things change and you have to learn to adapt to them. If anything, you’d be going into a marriage with more insight into that issue than many of your straight brethren. And last but not least, my initial point. The more gay marriages that occur, the more mainstream they become. The more mainstream they become, the more accepted they will be, and the more likely that the Prop 8 supporters will have no leg to stand on in their appeals.
But if you don’t actually WANT to get married, then don’t. But by all means, if you otherwise do want to get married, now’s the time.
We held it on the banks of the creek in the Temple of Sinawava, near the rock formations known as The Preacher and The Pulpit. Zion is indeed amazingly beautiful and I highly recommend it.
This was a part of my question. Do you have any evidence or legal training that leads you to this conclusion? As I explained, I can see how it could be treated differently, but I’m not a lawyer.
Roddy
I’m just a paralegal, not a lawyer, but I agree with your logic. It’s quite possible that any weddings performed between Walker’s ruling and an overturning of that ruling could be invalidated. I don’t know that even the Prop 8 people would go that far – they might be happy enough knowing that their law is solidified. But…maybe not.
Even if that were to happen, I personally don’t see that as an incentive not to go through with it, and I really do doubt that such a miscarriage of equality will be allowed to endure for more than an election cycle or two. YMMV.