CA. Court Overturns Gay Marriage Ban

California’s supreme court ruled that a ban on gay marriage was unlawful Thursday, effectively leaving same-sex couples in America’s most populous state free to tie the knot in a landmark ruling.

In an opinion that analysts say could have nationwide implications for the issue, the seven-member panel voted 4-3 in favor of plaintiffs who argued that restricting marriage to men and women was discriminatory.

They are flouting the fact that “marriage” has always been understood to be between a man and a woman. Well, we won’t have to wait long for intra-family marriages (re: incest) and polygamous marriages. Hey, as long as they’re consenting adults.

But the good news is that it could be overturned in November, when Californians are likely to vote on a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages. Conservative religious organizations have submitted more than 1.1 million signatures on initiative petitions, and officials are working to determine if at least 694,354 of them are valid.

If the measure qualifies for the ballot and voters approve it, it will supersede today’s ruling.

Here’s what some of the blogs are saying:

Check out Paul from A Regular Guy’s Thoughts saying “Men And Women Interchangeable, California Supreme Court Finds.”

within three months, religious freedom will essentially come to an end in California. Catholic adoption agencies will be forced to either abandon their missions, or abandon Catholic teaching. And the Church will be pressured to do the same with marriage itself; we will not get through the summer without a suit against the Archdiocese of San Francisco demanding that the Church perform gay marriages. And the Archdiocese, if it fights, will lose (personally, given the tendencies of Archbishop Niederauer, I expect that, rather than give up performing weddings altogether, he’ll give in and allow gay “weddings” in Catholic Churches). Any and all dissent on the propriety and desirability of gay “marriage” will be quickly and fiercely repressed. This will be especially apparent in the public schools, as the now-dominant gay culture wields its intolerant power in ways that heterosexuals would never have dreamed of doing.

Check out Jay over at Pro Ecclisia. California Supreme Court Puts State In Play for McCain.

There will be a ballot initiative to overturn the court’s decision on the November ballot in California. Such an initiative to define marriage as between 1 man and 1 woman in Ohio 4 years ago helped put Bush over the top.

Karen Hall’s response over at Some Have Hats is just perfect. You have to go see it to really get it.

McCain’s campaign spokesperson (though not technically a blog) said, “John McCain supports the right of the people of California to recognize marriage as a unique institution sanctioning the union between a man and a woman, just as he did in his home state of Arizona. John McCain doesn’t believe judges should be making these decisions.” If McCain pursues this right-headed line of clear thinking, California may have just become a swing state.

Or Hot Air.

Note that six of the seven justices on the court are Republicans. Will the ruling stick…Proposition 22, the California ballot initiative that defined marriage in the state as between one man and one woman (even if the marriage was entered into in another state that allows same-sex marriage), passed in 2000 by a margin of 1.7 million votes.