California’s Proposed Marriage Ban Not Retroactive Says CA AG

California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Monday that in his legal opinion, if Proposition 8 passes in November, it won’t be retroactive. Big news too as AG Brown’s office will represent the state in lawsuits over Prop. 8’s validity and meaning if it passes.

Via SF Gate:

If voters approve a November ballot measure banning same-sex marriages in California, thousands of gay and lesbian weddings conducted since the state Supreme Court legalized the unions on May 15 will probably remain valid, Attorney General Jerry Brown said Monday.

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The measure would amend the state Constitution to declare that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” It would overturn the court’s ruling that the previous ban on same-sex marriage - established by statutes rather than a constitutional amendment - discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation and violated the right to marry one’s chosen partner.
The measure does not state explicitly that it would nullify same-sex marriages performed before Nov. 4. But in their ballot arguments, supporters of Prop. 8 declare it would invalidate all such marriages “regardless of when or where performed” - an interpretation that would apply to existing as well as future marriages.
Courts that interpret ballot measures sometimes refer to such statements as evidence of what the voters knew and intended.
Brown’s office said in a court filing Monday that he believes the ballot measure would not invalidate existing marriages.

“I believe that marriages that have been entered into subsequent to the (May 15) Supreme Court opinion will be recognized by the California Supreme Court,” Brown told The Chronicle. Noting that Prop. 8 is silent about retroactivity, he said, “I would think the court, in looking at the underlying equities, would most probably conclude that upholding the marriages performed in that interval (before the election) would be a just result.”