Same Sex Marriage in California

Our office/chapel is now issuing the new marriage licenses & performing same sex marriages as of June 17th. We will gladly set appointments for your marriage - just call (818)904-9869 or email. Or take your chances as a 'walk in' at our office/chapel.

Assuming that everything stays the way the California Supreme Court intended it to be, same sex couples will have all the rights & priveleges of any other married couple in California. California still offers domestic partnerships, but now that same sex marriage will be legal, that's even better as more benefits will be available at the state level.

The Federal government will not recognize same sex marriage, so same sex marriages are not entitled to Federal benefits (ie: social security and hundreds of other benefits) but will be entitled to all the benefits at the state (California) level.

The governor of New York announced that the state of New York will recognize same sex marriages from other states. This means the state of New York will recognize same sex marriages from California and the couple will have all the same rights & priveleges as any other married couple in New York at the state level.

I will continue to update this site as I learn more about what's going on.

Acton
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Winnetka
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October 27, 2008 UPDATE:
Proposition 8 (Prop 8) is on the November ballot in an attempt to amend the California Constitution as defining marriage as that between a "man and a woman". Its important that everyone understand what a YES and what a NO vote means. To simplify it, simply rephrase the question to "should marriage be between a man and woman only?". Voting YES means the elimination of same-sex marriage. Voting NO means marriage can occur between any two human beings regardless of gender.

Supporters of Prop 8 (meaning they want same-sex marriage banned) include heavyweights such as the Mormon Church in Utah. Supporters have resorted to lies, distortion of the truth, and have simply played dirty by lying to the public in order to get their desired result. Whether you're for same-sex marriage or not, you should be outraged at the tactics and lies used by the supporters of prop 8. These are the same supporters that were against marriage between a man and woman who happened to be black and white (ie: white man + black woman, or black man and white woman) just last century. We cannot and should not tolerate such ridiculous restrictions regarding marriage. Marriage should be defined as the legal union of two human beings - period!

Many other states in the USA and 20 other countries have been pouring money into both sides of the proposition (both 'for' and 'against'). This is because California has traditionally been the trendsetter for the rest of the nation. What happens here in California sets the trend for the rest of the nation. Since legalization of same sex marriage in California, Massachussetts (also offers same-sex marriage) has lifted the residency requirement to issue marriage licenses, and Connecticut became the 3rd state to offer same-sex marriage.

Anyone reading this who is undecided about same-sex marriage, please consider this:
- California Economy and business (both big and small) has received a boost in revenues since same-sex marriage was legalized. This means more jobs!
- Outside of California, the revenues of airlines has been boosted by same-sex couples traveling to California to wed (this includes taxi drivers driving couples to/from the airport).
- No one's lives have been changed/altered in any way. Life for anyone and everyone has been the same.
- Schools have not changed anything and do not plan on changing anything.
- Yes, even lawyers and courts will benefit from the future revenue of divorces that will inevitably happen.

Come November 4th, we urge everyone to vote NO on prop 8. Oh... and by the way.... Don't go to the election polls on November 4th wearing an Obama or McCain t-shirt or anything else bearing any candidate's names (or even wearing "No on 8"). Why? Because this is considered "campaigining" and you will not be allowed inside the polling venues to vote!

November 5, 2008 Update:
As of now (November 5th, 2008, 10:00am), Prop 8 has passed (effectively writing discrimination against same-sex couples into the California Constitution).
However, all hope is not lost. This will be constitutionally challenged, again leaving it to the courts to decide the fate of same-sex marriage. Some are hoping for the possibility of the California Supreme Court throwing prop 8 out the window, but that remains to be seen.

We received word from the Los Angeles County Clerk / County Recorder's office that we can no longer issue same-sex marriage licenses or perform same-sex marriages.

The most common question I get is: "what happens to the same-sex marriages that happened before prop 8 passed?". State attorney general Jerry Brown said those marriages will remain valid, but their will be legal challenges, so until we really know the outcome of the legal challenges, we really won't know what will happen.

Its a real shame that other propositions on the ballot were voted to give more rights to pigs and chickens, yet rights were taken away from human beings.

I'll keep updating this page as I find out more info.

March 5, 2009 - The California Supreme Court heard arguments today about the validity of Proposition 8 (aka "Prop 8") which amended the California Constitution in November 2008 to read that marriage "is between a man and woman". The seven California Supreme Court Justices have 90 days to render a decision as to whether Prop 8 was even valid! Should the justices decide that Prop 8 was not valid, same-sex marriage will most like resume later in the year. However, should the justices decide that Prop 8 was valid, then there's the problem of whether the 18,000 same-sex marriages that took place during the 4-1/2 month window of 2008 (when same-sex marriage was legal) will be nullified or remain to be recognized by the state.
I'll update this page as I learn more info.

May 26, 2009
The California Supreme Court released their decision today regarding Prop 8:

1) Prop 8 is upheld (meaning Prop 8's rewording of the California Constitution to define marriage as a union between a "man and a woman" will stay as is).

2) The 18,000 same-sex couples who were married during the 4 month window when same-sex marriage was legal in California will be able to keep their marriages.

It is my opinion that because of the unique situation California now has (18,000 legally wed same-sex couples vs the loss of further same-sex couples from being wed), the decision will undoubtedly create further controversy.

There's already talk of another ballot initiative as early as next year to once again allow same-sex marriage. In the meantime, 5 other states have same-sex marriage with 2 more on the way. This could be what California needs for its wake-up call!

August 11, 2010

This update is in RED because we're still on hold as far as same-sex marriages, at least until August 18th.

Here's a summary of what led up to Federal Judge Vaughan Walker's decision today - in easy to understand plain old English (no use using confusing legal mumbo jumbo like "stay", "upheld", etc):

   - In 2008, there was a window of less than 6 months where same-sex marriages were legal. During that time, about 18,000 same-sex couples married. To this date, those marriages are still valid and legal!

   - On the November 2008 ballot, there was a measure (Prop 8) which said that marriage should be between a man and a woman ONLY. If Prop 8 passed, then same-sex marriage would become illegal. With the help of the Mormon Church (in Utah) and other such opposers throwing lots of money to mislead and sway voters, Prop 8 passed, making it illegal to have same-sex marriages. That went into effect the day after the election! But for the same-sex couples that married prior to that, they got to keep their marriages.

   - Last week, a Federal Judge (Vaughan Walker) made a decision on the case he was hearing as to whether Prop 8 violated the constitutional rights of same-sex couples to marry. He ruled that Prop 8 DID in fact violate the constitutional right of same-sex couples to marry and effectively threw Prop 8 out the window. He wanted to reinstate same-sex marriages immediately. However, knowing that the opposing side would appeal his decision (go to a higher court), he gave both sides an additional 2 days to present additional arguments to him so that he could decide if he was going to allow same-sex marriage to happen right away, or wait (possibly years) for the appeal process.

   - Today (August 11th), Judge walker decided that since the opposing side was going to do an emergency appeal anyway, he ruled that same-sex couples CAN in fact get married again starting as soon as August 19th UNLESS the appeals court says NO before this date. He's giving the opposing side until 5pm on Wednesday, August 18th to convince the appeals court to say that same-sex marriages cannot resume until the appeals process is over.

To summarize, same-sex marriages might happen again as soon as next week (August 19th).... or .... not until the appeals process is over, which could take years. As of right now, the decision about being able to marry as soon as next week is in the hands of the appeals court.

Stay tuned!