Good News in California, But It’s Still Not Over

The bigots behind Prop H8, which banned the same-sex freedom to marry in California, lost another round. They still have some more rounds to lose before this case is over, though.

A federal judge on Tuesday upheld a gay judge's ruling that struck down California's same-sex marriage ban, noting that his fellow jurist could not be presumed to have a personal stake in the case just because he was in a long-term relationship with another man.

That’s right. The H8ers tried to have the decision slapping down their marriage ban overturned because the judge was *gasp* gay!

In a 19-page ruling, Chief U.S. District Judge James Ware said former Chief Judge Vaughn Walker had no obligation to divulge whether he wanted to marry his own gay partner before he declared last year that voter-approved Proposition 8 was unconstitutional.

Kudos to Judge Ware.

The ruling does not settle the legal fight over Proposition 8. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is considering whether Walker properly concluded that denying gays and lesbians the right to marry violates their rights to due process and equal protection.

In my dreams, it goes on to the Supreme Court and they decide for full marriage equality, but we’ll probably only get the monogamous, nonconsanguineous freedom to same-sex marriage, for now.

"We all have an equal stake in a case that challenges the constitutionality of a restriction on a fundamental right," Ware wrote. "The single characteristic that Judge Walker shares with the plaintiffs, albeit one that might not have been shared with the majority of Californians, gave him no greater interest in a proper decision on the merits than would exist for any other judge or citizen."

Justice moves slowly, but we must keep pressing on towards full marriage equality so that an adult is free to marry any consenting adults.