Familienpolitik

Proposition 22, a law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman and passed by California voters in 2000, was overturned today by the California Supreme Court. You can read the details from CNN here or from the New York Times here.

Several same-sex couples, gay rights groups and the city of San Francisco had sued to overturn Prop 22 and other laws limiting marriage to heterosexual couples.

Part of the ruling reads:

There can be no doubt that extending the designation of marriage to same-sex couples, rather than denying it to all couples, is the equal protection remedy that is most consistent with our state’s general legislative policy and preference.

On the other hand, some groups feel the ruling is bad family policy “by design”:

“The government should promote and encourage strong families,” said Glen Lavy of the Alliance Defense Fund. “The voters realize that defining marriage as one man and one woman is important because the government should not, by design, deny a child both a mother and father.”

California now joins Massachusetts, the only other state in the U.S. allowing same-sex marriage. Will there be a flood of weddings up and down the state like there was in San Francisco in 2004 when Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered the city-county clerk to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples? (I blogged about one woman’s personal essay about her San Francisco same-sex marriage here.)

Tags: family policy, Marriage, same-sex marriage, United States