California To Officially Vote on Marriage Equality

Maybe a better headline would have been: “California to Vote on One Another’s Basic Constitutional Rights”. Today, the California Supreme Court cleared the way for the November vote on Proposition 8.

The court on Wednesday denied a petition to remove the initiative from the state’s general election ballots. The unanimous decision was handed down without elaboration.

Hundreds of marriage licenses have been issued to same-sex couples since mid-June, a month after the court overturned the state’s laws against such unions.

However, on June 2, opponents of same-sex marriage filed for a ballot initiative that would ban such marriages in the state’s constitution. Such a ban would overturn the court’s May ruling.

Equality California, a Sacramento-based activist group, filed a petition against the initiative — Proposition 8 — arguing that it involves a constitutional revision that can’t be adopted through a ballot vote.

The group also contended that petitions circulated to qualify the proposition for the ballot contained material that misled readers about the measure’s effects.

Head on over to Equality California and donate generously. They are behind the anti-gay folks in fundraising so we’ve got to step up our game in what will be a $15 million dollar fight for marriage.