California Supreme Court Upholds State's Prop 8 Decision

Proposition 8 remains in effect

The California Supreme Court has made a much-anticipated ruling on the rights of individuals to marry. Their decision was to uphold the state’s previous Prop 8 decision to ban gay marriage.

John Schwartz reports for the New York Times that the California Supreme Court decision on Prop 8 runs counter to a growing trend in other states that allow the practice. Future marriages of this nature will not be allowed in California after this ruling, but couples already married in the state before the Proposition 8 ruling will retain their married status. There were 18,000 same-sex couples married in California between May 2008 (when gay marriage was made lawful) and November 2008 (when Proposition 8 was initially passed).

California currently will allow civil unions, which according to Chief Justice Ronald George grants the ability to “choose one’s life partner and enter with that person into a committed, officially recognized and protected family relationship that enjoys all of the constitutionally based incidents of marriage.” The argument is that civil union essentially grants couples all the same rights as those who are married, but there is far from universal agreement on this matter. Among other things, there are questions as to whether certain types of insurance apply to both individuals in a domestic partnership, and whether financial matters like wills, tax provisions and pension benefits work in a similar fashion. In terms of short-term consumer finance, however, access to a loan company or fulfilling the “I need my cash now” requirement are not restricted in any way by the California Supreme Court decision on Prop 8. ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "California Supreme Court Upholds State's Prop 8 Decision"