Posts Tagged ‘same sex marriage’
Bay Area same-sex marriage advocates react as Supreme Court takes on Proposition 8
The four-year legal clash over California’s Proposition 8 may be coming to an end—the US Supreme Court announced last week that it will hear the case on the state’s same-sex marriage ban, and make its first-ever ruling on the issue. To gay and lesbian rights advocates around the Bay Area, this will be a momentous decision.
Read MoreAppeals court declares Proposition 8 same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional
A federal appeals court declared California’s Proposition 8 unconstitutional today, overturning the statewide ban on same-sex marriage that had been approved by voters in 2008. In a 2-1 ruling, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that Proposition 8 unfairly took away rights from a minority group.
Read MoreJudge rejects motion to vacate Proposition 8 ruling
A motion to vacate last summer’s Proposition 8 decision, which ruled the state’s ban on same-sex marriages unconstitutional, was denied today. Proposition 8 supporters argued that federal Judge Vaughn Walker should have been disqualified from presiding over the case because his same-sex relationship gave him an interest in the outcome of the trial.
Read More2010 in Oakland: The year’s biggest stories
2010 was a tumultuous year for Oakland as both the city and state faced a heated election season, the courts weighed the validity of controversial measures passed during previous elections, and the effects of the 2008 financial collapse continued to reverberate throughout the local economy, but it was also a year of new beginnings. Oakland North presents a guide to the year’s top stories.
Read MoreThe same-sex marriage seesaw
When Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker ruled to strike down Proposition 8 on August 4, saying that the same-sex marriage ban was discriminatory and unconstitutional, gay couple Teresa Rowe and Kristin Orbin were elated. But, on August 16, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals imposed a stay on same-sex marriage that will last until at least the end of the year–and now their marriage must wait.
Read MoreBreaking: Proposition 8 stay to be lifted; same-sex couples can marry in California Aug. 18
United States District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker has ruled that he will lift the stay on his ruling overturning Proposition 8, allowing same-sex couples to marry in California starting at 5 pm on August 18.
Read MoreIn Oakland, optimism and hope about overturn of Prop. 8
On Wednesday, joyous crowds took to the streets of San Francisco after U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker overturned Proposition 8, the ban against same-sex marriage, writing that the ban violated both the due process and equal protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution.
Read MoreWaiting for a Prop. 8 ruling, one couple reflects on two years of same-sex marriage
Oakland residents Joel Preston and Kevin Harrigan were among the 18,000 same-sex couples who got married in California during the six months in 2008 when gay marriage was legal. Now, as the state waits for a ruling in on the Proposition 8 trial that may overturn California’s current ban on same-sex marriage, the couple reflects on what two years of legal marriage have meant to them, and what the right may mean to others.
Read MoreGay marriage suppporters take case door-to-door
While supporters and opponents of Proposition 8 wait for a decision in the Perry v. Schwarzenegger federal trial, volunteers with Equality California are going door-to-door in an attempt to change the minds of those who voted for the same-sex marriage ban.
Read MoreBay Area watches as Proposition 8 case begins in federal court
Testimony in Perry v. Schwarzenegger featured vivid personal testimony about struggles with discrimination based on sexual orientation. The team defending Proposition 8, meanwhile, argued that the state has a compelling interest to allow voters to define marriage.
Read More“I felt as though a baseball bat had hit me”: a community prays, reflects, on Prop 8
At a commemorative interfaith service in Oakland, supporters of gay marriage gathered to reflect on the year since state voters approved the ballot initiative restricting marriage in California to man-woman couples.
Read MoreA year after Prop 8: the state of gay marriage law
A year ago today, California voters approved Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment that bars same-sex marriages in the state. Maine voters yesterday approved a similar ban, leaving five states–Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and New Hampshire–in which gay couples may legally wed. This interactive map (scroll over to get more information on each state), designed and reported by Oakland North’s Shannon Service and Tasneem Raja, shows the current state-by-state array of marriage and civil union law around the United States.
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