Sad news today: Same-gender marriages in California will not resume this week, as had looked likely. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decided to keep same-gender marriages on hold until December, even though gay couples were already lined up outside California clerk’s offices waiting for the ban to lift.
The three judges on the court will conduct a hearing the week of December 6 to decide if U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s (resoundingly feminist!) ruling to overturn Proposition 8 was constitutional.
So the plot in what Audrey Bilger calls a Gothic novel of a legal saga thickens. Same-gender marriages are not likely to resume until the case reaches the appeals court, or even the U.S. Supreme court.
Stay tuned for the next chapter: Will the villains, www.protectmarriage.com, have the legal standing to continue to defend Prop 8?
Left: A child’s poster after New York decided not to allow gay marriage. Photo courtesy of Flickr user srbyug // CC 2.0.