Thank you for the link Phil. I read the whole ruling. I would recommend it only to those who believe that semantics is the be-all end-all of communication. It is a cowardly and hypocritical pronouncement, particularly when one considers this the same court that ruled we could be married a year ago. The absolute highlight and reason for reading is the dissenting pronouncement from J Moreno. For those interested - Phil's link is for a pdf file - open it and go to page 151 for the dissenting opinion. It is the only thing I found worthy of the wait it has taken to get to this point
Describing the effect of Proposition 8 as narrow and limited fails to acknowledge the significance of the discrimination it requires. But even a narrow and limited exception to the promise of full equality strikes at the core of, and thus fundamentally alters, the guarantee of equal treatment that has pervaded the California Constitution since 1849. Promising equal treatment to some is fundamentally different from promising equal treatment to all.
Promising treatment that is almost equal is fundamentally different from ensuring truly equal treatment. Granting a disfavored minority only some of the rights enjoyed by the majority is fundamentally different from recognizing, as a constitutional imperative, that they must be granted all of those rights. Granting same-sex couples all of the rights enjoyed by opposite-sex couples, except the right to call their “ ‘officially recognized, and protected family relationship’ ” (maj. opn., ante, at p. 7) a marriage, still denies them equal treatment.
I'm pissed. I still believe that "we shall overcome" but quite frankly, I didn't even have the energy to join the protests tonight. My whole attitude right now is, if the homophobes who support this want to define us as "depraved, intolerant and hateful", they need only meet me right now to confirm all of their lies and myths.
