SAME SEX MARRIAGE NOW LEGAL IN CALIFORNIA!!!

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/15/BAGAVNC5K.DTL

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Comment by Tortuga Bi LIBERTY:


On the Ides of May 2008:


A few minutes ago, I was
standing with a pro-queer crowd in front of the
California Supreme Court building,
near Civic Center Plaza
in downtown San Francisco;
wearing a rainbow peace flag;
on a HOT Thursday morn.


TV crews were interviewing people;
but I couldn't hear them.
People kept looking up the steps,
toward the entrance to the building.

Then a huge cheer went up.

Without hearing any words,
I knew WHICH result would make
THIS crowd cheer.

So I rushed over to the nearby library,
to get online and
forward Bob Egelko's report.
(He's the Chron's main legal reporter,
expert and objective.)

This victory
is on;lyone part
of a larger battle.

The next big event,
IMQO,
comes at California's November 2008election;
when fascists will try to
overturn this decision.

For freedom until death!

.....

after having previously vetoed two same-sex marriage bills passed by the legislature.

You can find the full opinion at http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S147999.PDF

http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S147999.PDF

This is a moment to celebrate. Sure, not everyone wants to get married. Yes, it is a form of legal partnership forged in the bellows of patriarchy(sorry for the tortured metaphor) Yes there are critiques to be made of marriage...we can still make 'em.

but some people still want their partnerships to be publicly affirmed, recorded, historicized, etc...all those things you want when you get married. (And yes, they want and deserve the same tax advantage, too. if the amendment to ban queer marriage goes through next Nov. then let's start a movement to strip tax breaks/filing status from marriage law)

In any case this ruling recognizes the bigotry of the neurotic and fearful heterosexual caste system that refuses to recognize anything that doesnt resemble it.

I'm stoked. There will be a battle to fight come November and beyond, but, still, YEA! Yeah!
Fuck off Conservative california! And may your love life/lives live long and prosper queers, gays, trans, dykes!

We love the all caps; this is a milestone event. Here is the 172 page 4 to 3 decision permitting same sex marriage in California, 39 years after Stonewall and annual gay rights parades across the nation, growing in number and with the generations:
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S147999.PDF
You can also get in Word format at:
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/opinions.cgi?Courts=S
The date is May 15, 2008, the case number is Cal Supreme Court S147999
The cout's press release is at:
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/presscenter/newsreleases/NR26-08.PDF
The majority opinion, which ends at page 121, was written by Chief Justice Ronald George and signed by Justices Joyce Kennard, Kathryn Werdegar and Carlos Moreno with Justice Kennard writing a separate concurring opinion. Justice Marvin Baxter wrote a separate concurring and dissenting opinion signed by Justice Ming Chin and Justice Carol Corrigan also wrote a separate concurring and diseenting opinion.

The opinion confirms the reality that the gay liberation movement is part of the long history of civil rights struggles, based on the black liberation movment, with its reference to the 60 year old decision of Perez v. Sharp, (1948) 32 Cal.2d 711, overturning California's racist laws that forbade interracial marriage. The fact that such racist laws existed anywhere in the US, and California was only one of many states that had such horrifying, insane laws, means this country was never a democratic country. Of course, a country based on genocide and slavery cannot claim to have democratic foundations. It took until 1967 for the US Supreme Court to overturn all racist marriage laws. See
“Mildred Loving, civil rights-era pioneer, dies at 68” By Patrick Martin, May 9, 2008 World Socialist Website, at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/may2008/lov-m09.shtml

And this decision also confirms the secular nature of our society, which is extremely important in the face of the anti-science, anti-evolution, anti-abortion position of the current reactionary US government and in regard to abortion, the US Supreme Court, which has criminalized abortions for the last trimester of pregnancy. THIS DEFENSE OF THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE MAKES THIS DECISION AN IMPORTANT TURNING POINT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST FASCISM IN THE USA. Regardless of what anyone may think of the institution of marriage, everyone has a civil right to marry, regardless of what any superstition says about it, and that is the impact of this decision beyond the issue of same sex marriage. To claim to be an industrialized society, science and the secular nature of the society must be defended.

The fact that the decision is split so closely means that the ruling class is slowly being dragged into the 21st Century by the younger generations as gay marriage increases its support with each succeeding younger generation. Harvey Milk would be proud of California as we are proud of him. I just wish all my friends who died of the government;'s genocide program called "AIDS:" were here for this moment. We are here with their memory to carry on, and that is what we must do with all deliberate speed, to defend our homes by voting NO on 98/Yes on 99 to defend rent control and in San Francisco, Yes on F/No on G for affordable housing for the workingclass on June 3. Let us remember the current gay liberation movement began in San Francisco in 1964 in defense of gays against police raids at a California Hall New Year's dance as I recall, and in 1969 with the primarily black and Puerto Rican workingclass gay people defending themselves from a police attack on the Stonewall bar.
For the 1964 event, see
http://www.shapingsf.org/ezine/gay/files/60s.html

The gay liberation movement was of course part of the counterculture that developed in our opposiition to the war against Vietnam, perpetrated by the capitalist class to maximize their profits, the primary goal of the bankrupt social order in which we live, capitalism.

Now we have to defend it in November as the religious nuts are putting an anti-gay marriage initiatve on the ballot. It is awaiting verification of signatures by the Secretary of State. See Item 1298 at:
http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_j.htm#2008General

That's why it is important to vote, not just in November, but also JUNE 3, to DEFEND RENT CONTROL. No on 98, Yes on 99; and in San Francisco, Yes on F; No on G for affordable housing.

As to gay marriage and the presidential race, Peace & Freedom Party and the Green Party support gay marriage. The front running Democratic Party candidates for president claim to support civil unions for gays, but not marriage. Bill Clinton was the author of the infamous anti-gay marriage, Defense of Marriage Act. of 1996 nullifying pro-gay marriage laws by one state being recognized in other states under the full faith and credit clause of the US Constitution. That will have to be challenged, and it will be overturned as the US Supreme Court already overturned its own sodomy decision.
The Peace & Freedom Party platform may be found at:
http://peaceandfreedom.org/home/index.php/about-us/platform
and the section on gay liberation is as follows:

Sexual Orientation
•Equal treatment and benefits under the law for all families. Guarantee equal child custody, adoption, visitation privileges, and foster parenthood rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
•Equal treatment for all people in the military regardless of sexual orientation.
•The right to gay marriage and partners' benefits.
•Accurate sex education courses in public schools. Truthful information about sexuality in society and history.

Check out the bigoted comment from the first post. Add your comments if your so inclined. Here's the link. http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=6145742

There is only 1 Democratic appointee to the California Supreme Court, Carlos Moreno. All others are Republicans, defying their anti-gay party. See
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/16/MN3G10N325.DTL
This happened with the US decision legalizing abortion in 1973, Roe v. Wade as the writer of the majority opinion, Justice Blackmun, was a Republican Nixon appointee and the Democratic Kennedy appointee, Justice White, dissented. THIS ALL DEMONSTRATES THAT IT IS MASS MOVEMENTS THAT MAKE CHANGE and regardless of whether the office holder is a Democrat or Republican, they will respond to mass movements. If one adds the beginnings of the current gay liberation movement, the 1950s, this struggle has been going on for almost 60 years. Gay marriage exists in some European countries because labor is stronger there. What we need in this country is a labor movement, not just for gay marriage, but for everything else.