Posted by Tina
Marriage is One man and one woman
“Court upholds Prop. 8 but lets marriages stand,” by Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
** SAN FRANCISCO — California voters legally outlawed same-sex marriage when they approved Proposition 8 in November, but the constitutional amendment did not dissolve the unions of 18,000 gay and lesbian couples who wed before the measure took effect, the state Supreme Court ruled today. *** The 6-1 decision upholding Prop. 8 was issued by the same court that declared a year ago that a state law defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman violated the right to choose one’s spouse and discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation. *** Prop. 8 undid that ruling by reinstating the definition of marriage that the court had struck down, this time as an amendment to the state Constitution. The author of last year’s 4-3 decision, Chief Justice Ronald George, said today that the voters were within their rights to do so. *** “All political power is inherent in the people,” George said, quoting the Declaration of Rights in the state Constitution. He said the voters’ power to amend their Constitution is limited – and might not include a measure that, for example, deprived same-sex couples of the right to raise a family – but that Prop. 8 did not exceed those limits. *** Under California’s domestic-partner law and anti-discrimination statutes, the chief justice said, “same-sex couples continue to enjoy the same substantive core benefits … as those enjoyed by opposite-sex couples, including the constitutional right to enter into an officially recognized and protected family relationship with the person of one’s choice and to raise children.” **