LA Times: Let Couples Marry Now

By Advocate.com Editors

As Californians wait for Prop. 8 to work its way through the courts, the Los Angeles Times says gay couple should be allowed to get married.

Reads the article: "Although the federal courts expedited their handling of the lawsuit challenging Proposition 8, the issues are far from resolved. And now that the California Supreme Court has been asked to weigh in, the case could be delayed for another year or more.

"Enough already. Gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to wed while the case works its way through the system."

Read the full article here.


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California Gay Marriage Supporters: Lift Prop. 8 Stay

(from left) David Boies, Chad Griffin
Ted Olsen and Ted Boutrous.

By Advocate.com Editors

Attorneys who brought the federal case against Proposition 8 asked the U.S. court of appeals for the ninth circuit to lift the court-imposed stay on marriage equality in California.

A three-judge panel of the ninth circuit had imposed that stay last year without comment after U.S. district judge Vaughn Walker ruled the 2008 voter initiative unconstitutional. Gay couples are still unable to wed in California as a result.

“There there can be no justification for prolonging the suffering of plaintiffs and the tens of thousands of couples like them for an additional year,” attorney Ted Olson wrote in a court filing.

“Having prevailed at trial, having demonstrated that they had a fundamental right to marry, and having shown beyond dispute that Proposition 8 works irreparable harm upon gay and lesbian Californians by denying them that right,” Olson wrote, “it is simply intolerable for this Court to continue to deny them that right and to perpetuate their pain for such a length of time — especially given that this Court itself has recognized that Proponents may well have no right to appeal at all.”

The move comes on the same day the Department of Justice announced it will not defend section 3 of the 15-year-old Defense of Marriage Act in federal court after a directive from President Barack Obama.

Read more on that story here.

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Gay Marriage Reaches Majority Support In California

A majority of Californian voters support gay marriage, a new poll found.

The survey released last week by Public Policy Polling found 51 percent of voters in the Golden State believe gay marriage should be legal, while 40 percent believe it should be illegal. That's an increase of 5 percentage points since September's results.

The largest increase in support came from Republicans and independents. Republican voters increased from 15 percent in support to 29, nearly doubling in 4 months. Sixty-six percent of self-identified Democrats say gay marriage should be legal.

In 2008, voters approved the state's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8. The constitutional amendment was ruled unconstitutional by a federal court last year. A decision on an appeal to the case is expected within the next few months.

“The tide is turning toward equality in one of the bluest states in the country as the courts head toward a possible overturning of Prop 8,” Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, said in a statement.

The poll surveyed 892 California voters from January 28th to 30th. The survey's margin of error is +/- 3.3%.

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