By Mary Whitfill
Features Editor
California’s voter-mandated ban on gay marriage was struck down on Tuesday by a federal appeals court, but did not go as far as to say that other states or the federal government were required to recognize same sex marriage.
In a 2-1 vote, a panel of this Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of appeals said California’s 2008 law, known as proposition 8, violated the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause. It was decided that the law violated the cause by stigmatizing a minority group without a legitimate reason.
The decision paves the way for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on gay marriage next year, and stands to increase the weight of the social issue in the next presidential election.
Judge Stephen Reinhardt said the following in the majority opinon: “”Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples.”
While crowds of people gathered across California to celebrate the decision, others, such as presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, issued opposing statements. The Washington Post has his statement as follows:
Today, unelected judges cast aside the will of the people of California who voted to protect traditional marriage. This decision does not end this fight, and I expect it to go to the Supreme Court. That prospect underscores the vital importance of this election and the movement to preserve our values. I believe marriage is between a man and a woman and, as president, I will protect traditional marriage and appoint judges who interpret the Constitution as it is written and not according to their own politics and prejudices,” Romney said.
