Marin Reacts: Same-Sex Marriage to Return to California

By Jessica Mullins and Joan Dentler  

The U.S. Supreme Court’s Wednesday morning announcement that they won’t make a standing on California’s Prop 8, a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, has paved the way for same-sex marriage to resume in California.

The standing, which emphasizes that the Prop. 8 case shouldn’t have been brought to the Supreme Court, means a lower-court decision ruling Prop 8 unconstitutional stands, according to NBC Bay Area. 

Cheers began erupting in San Francisco’s City Hall early Wednesday morning as news of the standing made its way through the crowd. San Franciso Mayor Ed Lee and California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, a Marin resident, addressed the crowd, which was aired live on an NBC Bay Area live stream.

Newsom said he was celebrating the crowds’ devotion to marriage equality.

“I want to thank you for celebrating this remarkable journey we’re still on,” Newsom said. “Like any journey, it’s not linear. It’s complex and there are good and bay days, but it’s a worthy journey we’re on.”

The Supreme Court also ruled that the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prevented gay marriages from being legally recognized by the federal government, is unconstitutional, according to the Huffington Post.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in the 5-4 decision, striking down DOMA on the grounds that it violates the Fifth Amendment, depriving a class of persons from their equal liberty. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was in the minority, as were Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.

“The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity,” Justice Kennedy wrote. 

“By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others, the federal statute is in violation of the Fifth Amendment.”

Marin's Spectrum LGBT Center will be co-hosting a gathering for Marin's supporters of marriage equality at the Panama Hotel & Restaurant in San Rafael from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday. 

Marin residents began showing their support for the Supreme Court decisions on social media Wednesday morning.

“Love the moments when I’m proud of my country,” Lara Morris Starr wrote on the San Anselmo – Fairfax Patch Facebook page.

Carol Maley wrote “Awesome! Congrats to those who fought so hard,” on Facebook.

“Love is right and never wrong,” wrote Ruben Rocha on the San Rafael Patch Facebook page.

Jana Barkin wrote on the San Rafael Patch Facebook page that she is “so happy.”

Mill Valley resident Sally Kuhlman tweeted to San Rafael Patch that she felt “relief.”

Similarly, Shakti Sutter on Facebook that she's “totally relieved this finally decided in favor of love for all!"

Marin County Supervisor Judy Arnold released a statement Wednesday afternoon on the rulings. 

“I am struck by the brilliance of our Constitution. In 1787 there was no mention of same sex marriage, just a mandate for equality," Arnold said. "From that mandate, through the years, women can vote, slavery ended, and individuals, no matter what sex, are now allowed to marry. This adherence to equality set forth in 1787, today in 2013 in California, triumphs yet again.”

California State Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael, also weighed in: “Today's historic decisions reaffirm what our founders wrote 237 years ago next week," Levine said in a statement. "We all have a right to pursue happiness, and that includes choosing the person we marry. These decisions further LGBT equality all across our freedom loving nation.”

Check back for updates.

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