SAN FRANCISCO (EWTN NEWS/CNA)—The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 7 that California’s Proposition 8 unconstitutionally defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, clearing the way for a possible U.S. Supreme Court hearing on same-sex “marriage.”
Proposition 8 “served no purpose, and had no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California,” the federal court said.
The 2008 California ballot measure garnered 52% of the vote. It overturned a previous state Supreme Court ruling which imposed legal recognition of the unions.
Prop. 8 backers may now appeal to a larger panel of the Ninth Circuit or may appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The high court has never heard a case on same-sex “marriage” before, but it is believed to be divided on the issue. Many legal scholars believe Justice Anthony Kennedy will be the deciding vote, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The ruling’s effects are likely to be limited to California.
Ahead of the decision, Prop. 8 backer Catholics for the Common Good called for a “massive response” by supporters involving emails and calls to radio and TV talk shows and letters to the editor of newspapers.
“Our opponents made an unprecedented request that the court give them 24 hours’ notice before releasing their decision. They are no doubt rallying their troops and want to make the issue about gays and lesbians,” the San Francisco-based organization said.
In May 2009, the California Supreme Court upheld Prop. 8.
However, on Aug. 4, 2010, U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that the initiative “unconstitutionally burdens the exercise of the fundamental right to marry and creates an irrational classification on the basis of sexual orientation.” He said it fails to advance “any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license.”
Judge Walker, an appointee of Republican President George H.W. Bush, is himself homosexual.
His decision declared several findings of fact, including the claim that religious teachings like those of Pope Benedict XVI “harm” homosexuals.
The Ninth Circuit appeals court refused today to invalidate his ruling. Prop. 8 backers had requested the invalidation on the grounds that he should have disclosed he was in a same-sex relationship and could have personally benefited from the decision.
Catholics for the Common Good charged that Walker’s ruling created “an entirely new definition of marriage as merely the public recognition of a committed relationship between adults.”
“In reality, Prop. 8 protected the only decision that unites children with their moms and dads. How can anyone fail to see the value in that for children and society?”
Feb. 8 additions:
Critics found the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ Feb. 7 ruling against the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 to be “absurd” but not surprising.
“This decision was completely expected,” said William May, head of Catholics for the Common Good Action. “You have to remember: This is the most liberal, most-overturned appeals court and most-overturned judge in the country.”
Backers of Prop. 8 never expected to prevail at the appellate level, but saw it as a step to the U.S. Supreme Court. They will now appeal directly to the Supreme Court rather than ask for a full hearing from the Ninth Circuit, May told EWTN News on Feb. 7.
May said it is “absurd” to say there is no rational reason or public interest in “protecting the only institution in society that unites kids with their moms and dads.”
“They’re looking at marriage as merely something for the benefit of adults, not as the foundation of the family.”
Redefining marriage will tend to isolate religious groups, including Catholic parishes, from the wider community, he predicted, adding that it will change what children are taught.
“If marriage is redefined, that’s what will be taught in the schools. That’s a fact,” May said.
“It’s not prejudiced for the people of California to want their kids to learn the reality of what marriage is in a way that supports them and influences positive decisions they make about marriage and family in their lives.”
Other supporters of Proposition 8 criticized the ruling.
“No court should presume to redefine marriage,” Alliance Defense Fund senior counsel Brian Raum said Feb. 7. “No court should undercut the democratic process by taking the power to preserve marriage out of the hands of the people.”
He said Americans “overwhelmingly” reject changing the definition of marriage, noting the millions of people who voted in 31 states to preserve marriage as the “timeless, universal, unique union between husband and wife.”
“We are not surprised that this Hollywood-orchestrated attack on marriage, tried in San Francisco, turned out this way. But we are confident that the expressed will of the American people in favor of marriage will be upheld at the Supreme Court,” Raum stated.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said the decision was “disappointing but not surprising.”
“This is not about constitutional governance, but the insistence of a group of activists to force their will on their fellow citizens,” he charged.
“This ruling substitutes judicial tyranny for the will of the people, who in the majority of states have amended their constitutions, as California did, to preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”
Perkins expressed confidence that the Supreme Court will reject “the absurd argument that the authors of our Constitution created or even implied a ‘right’ to homosexual ‘marriage’ and will instead uphold the right of the people to govern themselves.”
May told EWTN News he thought the prospect of success in the Supreme Court is “good” because the Ninth Circuit Court’s decision is “really out of line with every other court and the Supreme Court in cases similar to this.”
“This will ultimately be decided in the Supreme Court, and we think that is the place to get a sober review of the arguments based on law, not on emotional rhetoric.”
He asked supporters of Prop. 8 to pray and to voice their opinions in letters to the editor and in calls to television and radio talk shows.
“It’s really important for supporters of Prop. 8 to realize that this debate about marriage is going on continuously. It’s going on in families. It’s going on in public forums. It’s going on in legislatures.
“It’s critical that people become informed about how to talk about the reality of marriage in secular terms and to be able to engage in a positive way, related not only to protecting but promoting the only institution that unites kids with their moms and dads.”
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California allows gay couples to enter into civil unions that grant all the rights and protections that come with marriage.
No civil rights for gay couples are at stake in this case.
The only question is whether the People of the State of California have the right to define the meaning of the word “marriage”. The Court has said “No”.
you homosexuals can have all the rights you want in this world, but in the next, at your judgement, you who had sex with a member of the same sex and did not repent, YOU WILL ALSO HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE IN HELL FOREVER
Have Faith, God wants this to go to the Supreme Court, won’t it then be forced to become a federal mandate? Is that a correct way of thinking?
It defies logic to suggest that two men or two women can live in relationship as husband and wife.
Nancy, two men or two women aren’t. They are a committed couple. That’s the entire point: Proposition 8 prevented two people who desire a committed, sharing, permanent relationship to form that bond.
That’s why it’s unconstitutional.
Robert, Your ranting on God’s judgement in the afterlife is interesting. Why did God make Gays? Just to punish forever or to be alone forever?
This ruling shows that the real reason for Prop 8 was to punish Gay people for wanting equality. Nothing more. The Mormons and Catholics want to beat God to the punch by this law.
Let’s pray for the preservation of Marriage.
The people who have given into this error need our prayers!
I’m thankful the court reversed Prop 8. I think any support we can give to stable, loving relationships, we should. Certainly the many same sex relationships I have seen endure and enrich my community with their work and model of partnership deserve the same civil recognition, rights, responsibilities, and remedies that other couples receive when apply for a marriage license from a local civil government. Of course, Catholics are free to solemnize marriages of their choice and reject the solemnization of others, just as they always have done. In terms of civil justice, the court has ruled correctly.
The Catholic Church teaches that God Himself created the gay community, homosexual orientation and same-sex marriage: “For you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”. And, in him “all things were created, in heaven and on earth.. . all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” “You have arranged all things by measure and number and weight.” “God himself created the visible world in all its richness, diversity and order.”.
Each of us have to decide - does marriage mean something substantive, or is it merely sentimental, as this judge seems to see it? The Supreme Court will have to decide if pleasing those who think it merely sentimental outweighs the real harm that government recognition of it as such has done to those who find marriage to be a substantive thing.
It’s ironic that in California, they shut down a school and will reboot their faculty because of a teacher forcing youngsters to post for bondage photos & another is accused of touching young girls.
I guess this state and the judges don’t learn regarding the results of wide spread acceptance of perversion.
Posted by Nancy D. on Tuesday, Feb 7, 2012 4:48 PM (EST):It defies logic to suggest that two men or two women can live in relationship as husband and wife.
—Well, Nancy, librals aren’t logical and never think things through…
“They’re looking at marriage as merely something for the benefit of adults, not as the foundation of the family.”
—That’s the biggest problem along that the govt. is forcing the church to abandon our religious right that marriage is a church sacrament.
What do you expect from the deviate dictators on the 9th. They should be IMPEACHED ! Laws passed by the people should not be subject to the whims of homosexual-lawyers in black robes !!!!!
Rilke’s Granddaughter,
You wrote-“Proposition 8 prevented two people who desire a committed, sharing, permanent relationship to form that bond. That’s why it’s unconstitutional.”
Where does the constitution say this is a right?
GOD created PEOPLE…HE DIDNT CREATE THE HOMOSEXUAL ACTION OF SEX BETWEEN MEMBERS OF THE SAME SEX…THIS PERVERSION OF THE NATURAL ACT BETWEEN A MARRIED MAN AND WOMAN WAS CREATED BY PEOPLE SO DEAD IN SIN THEY PERVERT THE WORDS OF SCRIPTURE TO VALIDATE THE LIFESTYLE INSPIRED BY SATAN HIMSELF
Did God make gays? I’ve not heard of discovery of “gay” genes. Homosexuality is a perversion created by a breakdown in a developmental phase of one’s upbringing: perhaps the absence of a parent or cruelty etc. Homosexuality is also the signs of the breakdown in our society. I believe gays practise what they do just because they can in this society. Who doubts that if this passes (gay marriage) then we’ll soon see marriage between three people or marriages between humans and animals etc etc. God help us. Forgive us O God. Have mercy on us.
What ignorance I’m reading! Homosexuality is a way of life for hedonistic people!!! Homosexual sex is abnormal and abusive, how can anyone even think God would create such pain for any one. He wants us to procreate, how do “gay couples procreate?
“God does not make junk”, to quote Mrriage Encounter. We make our own choices as to how we live our lives. All sex outside of marriage is wrong in ALL religions with God as their center. The Catholic church doesn’t ban just gay sex, all pre and post marital sex.
Yes, we need to pray for the California Justice System, our Governor and all government officials.
The court just ruled that the Holy Sacrament of Marriage is unconstitutional. This is the fallout from a sick degenerate society and a long silent USCCB.
Wow. There are a lot of people speaking for what God wants in these comments. I would encourage readers to read both the Perry et al v. Schwarzenegger et al decision and 9th district court opinion. It may clarify for some the legal, rational, civil basis for this decision and comfort them that their religious freedom is not at stake.
I believe that the aberration of homosexuality is a one of the results of our fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. We are subsequently subject to sin and death, and this is just one of the effects of sin. Homosexuality is not normal physiologically speaking. It can lead to all kinds of emotional and psychological problems. It negates the value of a both a mother and a father for a child, for these people think they have the right to adopt children as well. If allowed universally, it will lead to a total corruption of our society, something to be greatly feared. It diminishes the value of true marriage, and would greatly reduce the propagation of children. Homosexuality is a sad condition that afflicts a minority of the population. But it is one for which we must have extreme compassion, without condoning it. Naturally, homosexuals would like to see the promotion of their state in life so as to normalize it. We must not allow that to happen.
We need to offer many rosaries and much penance for the coming Supreme Court ruling. This could be the next Roe vs. Wade and doom society for many decades or even centuries.
Bill Hallinan,
There is no doubt about the tyranny that government recognition of same-sex unions becomes for those who don’t accept it. A couple’s application to be foster parents has been denied in the UK. Church-run adoption agencies have been forced to close or violate the teachings of their own faith in the UK and the U.S. Clergy have been investigated and even convicted of a crime for merely preaching the Gospel in Canada and Sweden. Public school students and teachers have been suspended in our own country for merely voicing their disapproval of homosexual unions and activity. There is no hope in the decisions you cite that such injustices will be avoided in the future if recognition of same-sex unions is expanded further, for they impose an “equality” that can only be recognized as such by discarding notions about marriage that have existed for practically all time in all places.
Half a century ago our nation woke up and stripped away artificial barriers that allowed us to claim that two persons were not equal to each other, when on a fundamental level they undeniably were. Today some are creating a travesty of justice as great as the one we eliminated back then by erecting an artificial equality between two things while ignoring the fact that on a fundamental level they are very different indeed.
@Kevin Rahe Thursday, Feb 9, 2012 12:15 PM (EST). Mr. Rahe, it will help me understand your point if you can be more specific about each of the circumstances you mentioned, particularly if the context involved public funding of services. I’m having trouble understanding how Catholicism and Catholic marriages will be threatened by someone else’s marriage. Again, we are speaking of a civil issue, not a restriction of Catholic belief or practice.
What can we do when politicians, bureaucrats, judges all go mad seeking FULL FREEDOM OF SEX anywhere everywhere ? Yes, it is sheer madness mainly of the present Western civilization. No person of normal intelligence can define marriage as something other than between a man and a woman. So the reason of this madness is the “UNHOLY SPIRIT” going around and working overtime to defeat God, Truth, Righteousness. God in his mercy gives freedom We can pray that God may be merciful to impart wisdom to these enemies of Marriage
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