California Supreme Court to Rule on Gay Marriage Tomorrow

While I hope in many ways that the Califronia Supreme Court rules in favor of gay marriage when it releases it opinion tomorrow, I cannot help but wonder what impact it will have on the wingnut Kool-Aid drinkers' effort to pass an anti-gay narriage amendment to the California constitution. It goes without saying that the Christianists seek to do everything possible to make gays less than full citizens under the law, be it DADT, banning gay marriage, or a desire to reinstate the sodomy laws.

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Yet in California, twice now the legislature has passed gay marriage legislation only to have it vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Obviously, a pro-gay marriage ruling by the California Supreme Court will make the Christianists go into convulsions, start foaming at the mouth and redouble their efforts to deprive gays of legal civil rights. But, will a favorable Supreme Court ruling added to this legislative action convince non-Christianist voters that gays should have CIVIL marriage rights and thereby doom the amendment effort? It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Here are highlights from the Los Angeles Times on the pending decision:

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The California Supreme Court says it plans to issue its long-awaited decision on whether to legalize same-sex marriage Thursday.The high court announced the pending opinion on its Web site Wednesday morning. Justices heard oral arguments in a series of cases brought by gay and lesbian couples, the city of San Francisco and two gay rights advocacy groups in early March.

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The court has been asked to decide whether the state's one man-one woman marriage laws violate the civil rights of same-sex couples.If it rules in favor of the plaintiffs, California could become the second state after Massachusetts where gays and lesbians can legally wed.