California Recognizes Existing Gay Unions

(AP)  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill recognizing gay marriages sanctioned in other states during the nearly five months such unions were legal in California.

Schwarzenegger says the action is consistent with a state Supreme Court ruling upholding the marriages of same-sex couples who tied the knot in California before voters approved Proposition 8.

Proposition 8 is a constitutional amendment passed in November that limits marriage to a man and a woman.

The bill signed by the governor late Sunday also says gay and lesbian couples who were married in other states after Proposition 8's passage have the same rights and benefits that California grants domestic partners.

The bill was sponsored by Democratic Sen. Mark Leno of San Francisco.

[daffy64]

How in the world can people "vote" on someone's Constitutional rights? If you support that idea, you'd better pray that someone with YOUR profile isn't denied a right some day.

[isthatso-2009]

I was born half a century ago and raised the majority of my life in San Diego, California. When I grew up, California was friendly, clean, relatively crime free, "laid-back", and basically a wonderful "live and let live" place to be. It was a wonderful place to be and to let be. Now, it is filled with jerks from other places, who have imported their hate, their bigotry, their violence and all of their crap and ruined California. In addition, the Mexicans and Latinos have overrun the entire state and left it bankrupt in the process with the illegal alien problem. The blacks of South Central Los Angeles have become some of the nation's worst drug criminals around and don't forget MS13 as well. Truly, California is a cesspool if there ever was one. I left 6 years ago and now live in the Midwest in a small town. I never thought I'd see the day when California would be so hateful toward gays and lesbians. Why do you care so much about such a silly thing, yet the rest of your society is crumbling around you? What a collection of jerks you have all become. You all deserve the imminent collapse of your society. You're broke at the city, county, and state level (your state government issues I.O.U.'s that are worthless!), you're economy is crumbling, you're schools are crap, the criminals are multiplying daily, housing values have plummeted and left a majority of homeowners "upside down", yep...you're comeuppance is rapidly coming down the track like a freight train. Oh, and that idiot Austrian Moron you elected as Governor, what a joke he has turned out to be.

[truthislife1]

People have a free choice. When we die, then the judgement.

[justsane-2009]

that's at least a step in the right direction.

for those whining about "the will of the people", allow me to explain something to you. fundamental human rights, such as the ability to form unions, i.e., marriages, are not subject to "the will of the people". they are granted, as the declaration of independence states, "by our creator", and as such, are codified in the constitution. if it was up to "the will of the people", it's probable that women would still not be able to vote, african-americans would still be second-class citizens, and we would have no government services whatsoever, because no one wants to pay taxes.

[bud28dy]

jankebenzone -- obviously you have no idea what happened to Prop 8. Let me educate.

The Cal Supreme Court ruled that the Cal Constitution prohibited denial of marriage to gays and made such unions legal. That ruling was the law in Cal for several months.

In Nov Prop 8 was passed changing the Constituion to take away gay civil rights. The law could not be applied retroactively since you can't retroactively amend a Constitution. If you could, for example, we could abolish the First Amendment retroactively and arrest people exercising that right for the past 2 centuries (at least those that were alive). Got it. Only PROSPECTIVELY.

The Cal Court therefore followed simple law and issued a simple ruling that marriages which were LEGAL before Prop 8 were still legal and today merely extended that to out-of state couples married when it was LEGAL!

The people got exactly what they wanted and there are no more FUTURE marriages. The will of the people was not ignored.

[bud28dy]

jankebenzone -- obviously you have no idea what happened to Prop 8. Let me educate.

The Cal Supreme Court ruled that the Cal Constitution prohibited denial of marriage to gays and made such unions legal. That ruling was the law in Cal for several months.

In Nov Prop 8 was passed changing the Constituion to take away gay civil rights. The law could not be applied retroactively since you can't retroactively amend a Constitution. If you could, for example, we could abolish the First Amendment retroactively and arrest people exercising that right for the past 2 centuries (at least those that were alive). Got it. Only PROSPECTIVELY.

The Cal Court therefore followed simple law and issued a simple ruling that marriages which were LEGAL before Prop 8 were still legal and today merely extended that to out-of state couples married when it was LEGAL!

The people got exactly what they wanted and there are no more FUTURE marriages. The will of the people was not ignored.

[jankebenzone]

Sorry, but you better do some more studies on politicalm law,----

Proposition 8 was a California ballot proposition passed in the November 2008, general election. The measure added a new section (7.5) to Article I of the California Constitution. The new section reads: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."[1][2][3] The proposition overturned the California Supreme Court's ruling of In re Marriage Cases that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right, by restricting the definition of marriage to opposite-sex couples.

[thadius5]

Prop 8 was funded and passed by out of state Mormons who spent millions of dollars for numerous TV ads that aired in California. Many non gay Californians thought that was wrong, and so did the Governor. Now he and the California Congress have spoken.

[eus109937]

Way to go Gov. Schwarzenegger!! Equal state rights for all peoples of our great state.

[jankebenzone]

So much for democracy, the people voted NO to same sex unions or marriage, yet the govt.gives in to their demands anyway. This group sure must have clout with the leaders, or the majority of the leaders are similarly affected. Small wonder such a large segment of the populace have little or no faith in the government, they don't keep promises or listen!

[democracy1]

He recognized the will of the people in other states where these marriages are legal. Have you taken notice of the story of the couple in Texas that can't even get divorced there because Texas won't recognize their marriage from another state? In other words, "We don't support gay marriage, but we'll make them stay married even though they no longer want to be". How ridiculous.

[daffy64]

You can't "vote" on people's Constitutional rights. It's un-American.

[mensarino]

underdogus----Your name-calling cheapens you.

[stuart-johns2]

Nah...he was already cheap. He's a republican extremist. What do you expect?