A Step Closer to Equality

On November 2008, California voters passed an initiative, known as Proposition 8, that banned the legalization of same-sex marriage;thus, defining "marriage" as a union between a man and a woman.

Opponents of Proposition 8 were not going to allow the rights of same sex couples to be taken away. Such issue was taken to the court. The case went through numerous hearings of both opponents and supporters of the initiative.

Today, Wednesday - August 4th, U.S District

Judge Vaughn Walker decided that the ban of same sex marriage in fact violated the rights of a pair of couples; in respect to the due process and equal protection clause of the constitution.

The plaintiff's (who filed the law suit) stated that Prop 8 violated the due process clause of the Constitution because it prevented each plaintiff from marrying the person they love. The Due Process Clause clearly states: no “State [shall] deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due

process of law.” Which means, to my understanding, that Prop 8 was depriving the plaintiffs from their own personal life and their liberty to love who they want.

Plaintiff's also stated that Prop 8 vioalted the equal protection clause of the Constitution because it is not giving equal rights to same sex couples to their heterosexual counterparts. The initiative was discriminating against the LGBT community by denying the right to marry the person of their choice; the heterosexual community is freely allowed to make union with the person of their choice, yet the LGBT community doesn't.

The court decided that Prop 8 was unconstitutional due to the fact that the bill "prevents California from

fulfilling its constitutional obligation to provide marriages on an equal basis."

The decision is a step closer to creating equality. The District Court's decision is not the final say; the case will most likely reach the Supreme Court. It will be the Supreme Court's decision that will determine the final say on whether or not Prop 8 violates the rights of the LGBT community.