What To Do

There was talk that the California Supreme Court might put a hold on their ruling to allow gay couples to be married in the state until the voters could vote on a ballot initiative that would only allow heterosexual couples to be married. Apparently, that's not going to happen.

The California Supreme Court on Wednesday removed any lingering legal doubts about whether same-sex couples can marry in California beginning June 17, setting the stage for a rush of gay nuptials that morning. [...]

A November ballot initiative that could restore a state ban on gay marriage could still threaten the marriages of same-sex couples such as the Speakmans and invite more legal challenges. But for now, the wedding invitations can go out - in ink. [...]

Conservative groups, as well as 11 states that ban gay marriage, had urged the justices to freeze the ruling until after voters consider the ballot measure, which would amend the state constitution to restrict marriage to a man and a woman. Backers of the measure argued that it would create legal confusion if gay couples marry in the coming months and voters then outlaw same-sex marriage. [...]

With the legal obstacles removed for now, thousands of gay couples are expected to marry, as there are more than 40,000 same-sex couples registered as domestic partners in California. A Field Poll released last week found a majority of likely California voters for the first time favor same-sex marriage. (source)

I know... I've kind of stopped writing (or worrying) about marriage because quite frankly, it doesn't define my life and I have other interests taking my time now. But I'm wondering if it would be to our best interests to take a trip to California before the November election, and get married. Think about it. It would be a real marriage license from a state. We could return to Connecticut and have something that Connecticut is not willing to give us at this point in time.

Now, when we travel, we have to travel with all of these legal documents proving that we aren't "legal strangers" (yes, I'll take them to Idaho with me when I go in case something bad happens -- not that the state will recognize them if they are needed). I was thinking that if we added a real marriage certificate to that pile of papers, it might carry more weight.

The timing of all of this is strange to me. From my own personal little world, I hear about the California court allowing gay couples access to marriage. It's challenged, with many conservative groups, along with 11 other states, asking the court to hold off on the enactment of the ruling until the voters have a chance to vote on whether to allow this minority the rights to equal citizenship. The court dismisses the argument. The ruling will stand and on June 17, gay couples in California, and any gay couple who wants to fly to California to get married, will be able to hold a real marriage license, just like those couples in Massachusetts. Bravo. This doesn't effect me because I'm hopeful that soon my state of Connecticut will soon allow marriage for us.

But then this week, I watch this documentary about the late Lieutenant Laurel Hester. I'm extremely moved by the whole experience. I'm very sad, a lot of tears, and I'm so incredibly pissed off that two people were put through that crap. So now I'm wondering this... As of June 17, 2008, the state of California would marry Kent and me. In November, the voters could vote to overturn the wish of the high court, and abolish marriage. But, as many lawyers point out, it's highly unlikely that those marriages that the state recognized for even a short time, would be voided. There were over 4,000 marriage voided years ago when San Francisco started issuing marriage licenses. But the difference now is that the state is willingly issuing those licenses. So I guess I'm wondering, as I'm getting ready to take a trip to Idaho, if we should just get married in that five month period of time when we know for certain that we can.

I thought I gave all of this up until I saw that documentary on Lieutenant Hester's life. I find it repugnant that we should have to be worrying about crap like this. I've become so disillusioned with my country (yes Canada, YOU ROCK!). But, I have hope that in November, we will at least start to follow a different path. I don't expect President Obama to drop everything and tend to equality issues for gay Americans since he will be very busy cleaning up after President Schmuck. But at least, we will be on his list somewhere, which is more than I can say now.