Yesterday came this bit of good news:
Judge Says California Ban on Gay Marriage Can End on Aug. 18
Just a week after ruling that Proposition 8 - a 2008 voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage – was unconstitutional, Judge Vaughn R. Walker, the chief judge of the Federal District Court of the Northern District of California, lifted a stay on his decision, opening the door for untold numbers of gay couples to marry in the nation's most populous state. But he delayed implementation of the order to lift his stay until Aug. 18.
He gave the Court of Appeals what is considered to be the standard time to decide if they want to put a stay on his ruling or not. It’s unfortunate that gays and lesbians have to wait another week, but the important thing is that he turned down the request of the Prop 8 supporters to put a stay on his ruling.
What it means is that he doesn’t share in their belief that they’ll likely prevail on appeal and also noted that they might not even have legal standing in appealing the decision to begin with, since they weren’t specifically ordered to do anything and couldn’t show that they’d be severely harmed by the ruling going into effect.
Let’s hope the Appeals Court shares judge Walker’s opinion both on not granting a stay and on the overall decision.
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