by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

The county clerk offices are packed today as gay and lesbian couples tie the knot. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that "a general air of celebration filled the air."

The LA Times reports that most couples are trying to keep their ceremonies low-key."Images from gay weddings, said Lorri L. Jean, chief executive of theLos Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, could be used by opponents in acampaign designed to persuade California voters that gays and lesbiansshould not have the right to marry."

Marc Stern wrings his hands and wonders if gay rights will trod upon religious freedom to bash homosexuals. Goodness me!

There's more...

Image courtesy SFGate.com

[courtesy of Blog for America]

The California Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for the state to deny same sex couples the right to marry.  So, starting this month, gay and lesbian couples all over California will have the ability to marry.  However, a ballot initiative has qualified for the November election that, if passed, would amend California's Constitution to ban marriage equality for good.  The Washington Post takes a look at the potential legal ramifications and confusion that could ensue if this ballot measure were to pass:

On Monday, a ballot measure allowing voters to define marriage as a union "between a man and a woman" was certified for the Nov. 4 election. Two days later, the California Supreme Court refused to rehear the same-sex marriage case or delay its decision legalizing such marriages, effective June 16.

The developments -- victories for both sides of the debate -- have engendered questions, most notably this: If California voters ban same-sex marriage in November, what happens to the thousands of couples expected to wed between the middle of this month and then?

It's a question no one can answer, say legal experts, who can only make predictions as California barrels down this untraveled legal path.

Danny
Communications Director

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Field has now released more data on their marriage poll, and thanks to the generosity of the good folks at the SacBee's Capitol Alert, you now have access to a lot of data. From the main release, in addition to the numbers mentioned earlier, where 51% of californians approve of gay marriage, we get some other high level stuff:

These findings compare with the results of six previous Field Polls taken over the past three decades in which those supporting same-sex marriage were in the minority.  For example, thirty-one years ago in 1977, more than twice as many Californians disapproved as approved allowing of same-sex marriages (59% to 28%).  Over the years opposition for having regular marriage laws apply to gay and lesbian couples has decreased steadily to where a minority of voters now holds this position.

In other words, the trend is clear to see. Whether it's just the inevitable drift towards equality that occurs as younger, more equality-minded voters become a more powerful voting bloc, or whether this was the result of the marriage decision, the results are still there. And as dday points out (in the top Google News Story in the US section) in a guest post at Kevin Drum's place, Mark DiCamillo, Field's lead pollster these days, thinks that this is likely a combination of the two:

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

The California Field Poll, long considered the gold standard of state polls, has just released a survey of 1052 California voters that shows the ground has shifted on same sex marriage and by a large margin they support same-sex marriage and will defeat a measure that looks likely to qualify for the November ballot. The results are unmistakable as Field asked a number of questions in a number of different ways over a ten day period ending Monday.

By a margin of 51% to 42% California voters support allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. Split into a random subsample, by a 54% to 40% margin, voters oppose the idea of changing the California State Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman, thereby barring marriage between gay and lesbian couples. Another subsample, by a 51% to 43% margin, would vote against a November ballot initiative defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Maya Harris
Executive Director
ACLU of Northern California

Today is the day we’ve been working for—a watershed for basic fairness and human dignity. The California Supreme Court has recognized that equality means that everyone must be free to marry the person they love.

Profound social change starts in California, and does not end here. It influences the rest of the nation. Today’s decision means that Californians will extend the franchise of fairness to gay and lesbian couples who enter into the committed, loving relationship we call “marriage.” And this decision will take its rightful historic place alongside those that have formally recognized what we, as Americans, have always aspired to: a more perfect, more egalitarian union of free people, free to choose our destiny, including whom to marry.

Californians consider bans on interracial marriage an embarrassing relic of bigotry—and so does the rest of the country. But in 1948, when the California Supreme Court struck down the state law barring interracial marriage, it blazed a brave new path for California and the nation. That decision changed California, and then it changed America.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Maya Harris
Executive Director
ACLU of Northern California

California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today challenging the constitutionality of denying same-sex couples the benefits and protections of marriage in the state (Watch oral arguments online, on television, or at a community viewing center starting around 9 a.m.).

The ACLU, Lambda Legal, Heller Ehrman LLP, the Law Office of David Codell, and lead counsel National Center for Lesbian Rights are representing 15 committed gay and lesbian couples as well as Equality California and Our Family Coalition.