CA Gay Marriage: One Year Later

For California's gays and lesbians, today marks the bittersweet one year anniversary of the California Supreme Court's decision to allow LGBT folks to get married in the Sunshine State. Of course, things didn't turn out exactly as planned and in November, Proposition 8 passed, leaving gays and lesbians high and dry at the aisle. Cue the scenes of protesters marching on the Mormon Church, the streets of Silver Lake and Downtown and ultimately, last month's decision by the Supreme Court to uphold Prop. 8 while allowing the approximately 18,000 couples who were hitched to stay that way.

End of story? Hardly. The decision that launched what many have dubbed "Stonewall 2.0" is still driving the gay marriage debate, not just here, but across the nation.

• Former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson and David Boies, former rivals in the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court case have teamed up to take Prop. 8 to the Feds, calling for an immediate injunction against Prop. 8 and a possible Supreme Court battle. This freaks out much of the gay establishment, who think that the Federal Courts are too conservative to rule in their favor and fearing a decision that could cause more harm than good.
• Meanwhile, Equality California and the Courage Campaign have begun the process of repealing Prop. 8 through a ballot initiative process that could occur as soon as 2010. Hoping to succeed where the No on 8 campaign failed, organizers are looking to raise money that will build a network of field organizers across the state, even in the conservative areas written off by the first campaign.
• Finally, there's the question of what will happen to the 18,000 couples already married. The National Center for Lesbian Rights and Lambda Legal, gay rights law groups, have vowed to protect the rights of these married couples and many legal scholars think their marriages may be the key to undoing the damage done by Prop. 8.