No Surprises There - California Declares That "Marriage" Must Apply to Same-Sex Couples

We're no longer surprised at any Court decisions that come from the California judiciary.  Since I graduated from law school lo, those many years ago, one of the quickest ways to denigrate any legal authority cited by opposition has been to point out, "it's a California case."  The rest is understood - the state's courts are nationally known for liberal, judicial activism which often bucks national trends, and are often known for wacky, off-base reasoning.

Today, as expected, California found unconstitutional (under the state constitution) any laws that did not extend the term "marriage" to same-sex unions. I will admit to not reading the entire 172-page opinion and am fairly certain that I shall never be so in the throes of insomnia that I would do so.  I have, however, read the excerpt provided for us by Greg Griffith at Stand Firm, which seems to convey the essence of their thinking.

One interesting conundrum in this decision is he inconsistent manner in which they treat the existence of California "domestic partnership" laws.  On one hand, the Court seems to brag at how progressive California is by having enacted these laws, which "afford the couple virtually all of the same substantive legal benefits and privileges, and impose upon the couple virtually all of the same legal obligations and duties."  Later, however, in setting forth their reasoning for declaring any limitation on the use of the term "marriage" to describe a committed relationship, the Court found it to be discriminatory that same-sex couples could only use the term "domestic partners" as opposed to marriage.  Huh?  Didn't you just say the two were virtually the same thing?

The dissent points out that California voters passed Proposition 22, which limited the use of the term "marriage" to one-man, one-woman relationships, only 8 years ago, and that the Court was simply overriding the will of the people on this issue.  Do we see any parallels here?  Of course we do.  The liberal agenda always trumps everyone and everything.  Liberals are, of course, much smarter than the great unwashed masses, and are therefore entitled to tell the rest of us how to live and what to think.  So long as the liberal, GLBT agenda is at stake, then form will always triumph over substance, and the goals of the few will override the will of the many.