Marriage in California Begins June 17th

The California Supreme Court has denied a petition requesting stay of their opinion until after the November ballot election.

Prior to this denial, the initiative to modify the California Constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman was certified yesterday to have enough signatures to place it on the ballot in November.

This means that there WILL be sames sex legal marriages in California regardless of whether the ballot measure passes. But if the ballot measure passes, we will have quite a soup of laws! They can't go back with the November ballot and undo marriages that were legal at the time they were entered into. So despite their intentions, it will be too late for some of us.

There is a lot of out of state money coming into California to support this ballot measure. Those of you who want to provide support to oppose it are also welcome to make donations! It will be a tough fight. Talk with those you know in California personally to make sure they understand the implications of approving such a measure, and why they need to vote, and vote against it. Sometimes one-on-one discussions can make all the difference in the world! Particularly to combat such fearful propaganda coming from those who fear, somehow, that when I and my partner actually wed on the anniversary of our commitment ceremony that we will somehow undo the fabric of their marriage. If their marriage is so insecure to begin with, it isn't my marriage that will undo it!

California often leads the way in progressive change. The California Supreme Court decided that preventing interracial marriage was unconstitutional long before the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same conclusion. Massachusetts has not fallen apart since legalizing gay marriage - nor has the country.

I have friends who will be marrying on the 17th. We will not be far behind - we will marry in August. We wanted to honor our original ceremony and celebrate it and our marriage on the same day. We are simply renewing our vows.