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The court order follows the federal Supreme Court's June 26 decision in Hollingsworth v. Perry to defer to rule on a challenge to California's Proposition 8, the initiative defining marriage as a union of a man and a woman, saying those who proposed the ban had no legal standing to do so.
As the San Francisco Chronicle reports:
The first weddings took place June 28, after Gov. Jerry Brown ordered all 58 county clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. But because the nation's high court did not rule on Prop. 8's constitutionality, sponsors of the 2008 measure urged the California court to step in and declare that only the two same-sex couples who sued to overturn the law should be allowed to marry.
State officials replied that the federal court ruling was binding statewide, and the state's high court went along - in a July 15 order refusing to halt the weddings, and in Wednesday's final order dismissing the case.
"Gay and lesbian couples will continue to marry throughout California, and families will continue to be strengthened. Prop. 8 is gone for good," declared Adam Umhoefer, executive director of the American Foundation for Equal Rights--which represented the four now-married plaintiffs in the Supreme Court trial, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo.
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Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |

The court order follows the federal Supreme Court's June 26 decision in Hollingsworth v. Perry to defer to rule on a challenge to California's Proposition 8, the initiative defining marriage as a union of a man and a woman, saying those who proposed the ban had no legal standing to do so.
As the San Francisco Chronicle reports:
The first weddings took place June 28, after Gov. Jerry Brown ordered all 58 county clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. But because the nation's high court did not rule on Prop. 8's constitutionality, sponsors of the 2008 measure urged the California court to step in and declare that only the two same-sex couples who sued to overturn the law should be allowed to marry.
State officials replied that the federal court ruling was binding statewide, and the state's high court went along - in a July 15 order refusing to halt the weddings, and in Wednesday's final order dismissing the case.
"Gay and lesbian couples will continue to marry throughout California, and families will continue to be strengthened. Prop. 8 is gone for good," declared Adam Umhoefer, executive director of the American Foundation for Equal Rights--which represented the four now-married plaintiffs in the Supreme Court trial, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo.
_____________________

The court order follows the federal Supreme Court's June 26 decision in Hollingsworth v. Perry to defer to rule on a challenge to California's Proposition 8, the initiative defining marriage as a union of a man and a woman, saying those who proposed the ban had no legal standing to do so.
As the San Francisco Chronicle reports:
The first weddings took place June 28, after Gov. Jerry Brown ordered all 58 county clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. But because the nation's high court did not rule on Prop. 8's constitutionality, sponsors of the 2008 measure urged the California court to step in and declare that only the two same-sex couples who sued to overturn the law should be allowed to marry.
State officials replied that the federal court ruling was binding statewide, and the state's high court went along - in a July 15 order refusing to halt the weddings, and in Wednesday's final order dismissing the case.
"Gay and lesbian couples will continue to marry throughout California, and families will continue to be strengthened. Prop. 8 is gone for good," declared Adam Umhoefer, executive director of the American Foundation for Equal Rights--which represented the four now-married plaintiffs in the Supreme Court trial, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo.
_____________________