State Supreme Court says same-sex couples have right to marry (SFGate.com)
May 15th, 2008 by Viviane
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
(05-15) 10:31 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — Gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry in California, the state Supreme Court said today in a historic ruling that could be repudiated by the voters in November.
In a 4-3 decision, the justices said the state’s ban on same-sex marriage violates the “fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship.” The ruling is likely to flood county courthouses with applications from couples newly eligible to marry when the decision takes effect in 30 days.
The ruling set off a celebration at San Francisco City Hall. As the decision came down, out-of-breath staff members ran into the mayor’s office where Gavin Newsom read the decision.
Outside the city clerk’s office, three opposite-sex couples were waiting at 10 a.m. for marriage certificates. City officials had prepared for a possible rush on certificates by same-sex couples, but hadn’t yet changed the forms that ask couples to fill out the name of the “bride” and “groom.”
Kenton Owayang, the office supervisor for the city clerk’s office, said he’s waiting for word from the state registrar’s office about marriage forms and working on getting extra staff members in today in case the city is able to give out the certificates to same-sex couples. (more . . .)
Full text of opinion (172 pgs) from How Appealing.
This is awesome news, even though most everyone thought the court would rule that way.
This is even more interesting to me because I am getting ready to move to California, and have been in a relationship with another woman who I could see myself marrying.
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