Saturday, June 29, 2013

Stay lifted: Marriages begin in California!!!

I started this blog in the dark days after the passage of Prop8, and it's been a long road.  But it's over.  Today, the 9th circuit lifted its stay (lacking a  little decorum, as the SCOTUS was not yet "official" for 25 days) and the plaintifs in the long, long Prop8 case got married.

From the SF Gate:
A federal appeals court issued an unexpected order Friday that allows gays and lesbians to marry in California. 
Two days after the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by the sponsors of Proposition 8, the 2008 initiative that banned same-sex marriage, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco lifted its September 2010 injunction that had blocked a federal judge's ruling declaring Prop. 8 unconstitutional. 
Two plaintiffs in the Prop. 8 case, Sandy Stier and Kris Perry, were first in line at San Francisco City Hall waiting to get their marriage license. State Attorney General Kamala Harris officiated the ceremony on Mayor Ed Lee's balcony. 
San Francisco City Hall is staying open late Friday to allow couples to marry. City Hall will also stay open through the weekend for weddings, said Lee's spokeswoman, Christine Falvey.
The LA TImes: 
Los Angeles' first marriage between gay men since this week's Supreme Court ruling on Proposition 8 — and Friday's lifting of a stay on same-sex weddings by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals — united Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo in a ceremony presided over by outgoing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

The two Burbank residents had raced from Los Angeles to the county registrar's office in Norwalk on Friday afternoon after learning that an expected 25-day delay in issuing wedding licenses for same-sex couples was voided. Heavy freeway traffic slowed the trip and delayed their plans to tie the knot about 5 p.m.
Congratulations to all!!!

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