The U.S. Ninth Circuit of Appeals ruled Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional on the grounds that the law stripped gay men and lesbian women of their human rights unjustly and without reason. Defenders of Prop. 8 made it clear that they will be appealing the decision. Whether or not the case will ever reach the U.S. Supreme Court still hangs in the air.
“‘Proposition 8 operates with no apparent purpose but to impose on gays and lesbians, through the public law, a majority’s private disapproval of them and their relationships,’ Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote for the court.”
“Other lawyers and legal scholars said the 9th Circuit might have the final word on Proposition 8 because the ruling was so pointedly limited to California, a state where voters stripped a minority of a right that already existed and where the usual justifications for a same-sex marriage ban, responsible parenting and procreation, are undercut by domestic partner laws.”
More from the Los Angeles Times
- Gay Marriage: U.S. Supreme Court may not hear Prop. 8 appeal
David Savage, Carol J. Williams and Maura Dolan, February 7, 2012
- Â Prop. 8: Gay marriages won’t resume immediately in California
Maura Dolan and Hailey Branson-Potts, February 7, 2012
