Same-sex marriages will not be occurring in California on August 18. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has granted a stay. United Families International applauds the ruling and encourages that same court to recognize that the coalition that represents Protect Marriage does indeed have standing to continue the appeal process. The next hearing on the future of Prop 8 will be held in December with the standing question the focus of the hearing.
Because Gov. Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown—who should be defending the legally passed Prop 8 initiative—have been derelict in their duty to represent the citizens of California, the Protect Marriage has had to defend Prop 8. Thus the opposition has raised the question of standing.
In other marriage news, the Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) has been ruled unconstitutional in a court in Massachusetts. Once again, the very people charged with defending the federal DOMA—the Obama Justice Department—have not done their job. Media outlets are reporting that that same Obama Justice Department may not even be considering appealing the ruling! Legal experts say that it would be very difficult for outside defenders of marriage to be ruled as having “standing” and to step in and mount a defense for the federal DOMA. Let Pres. Obama know of your outrage and ask him to please do his job.
The good news is that when given the opportunity to voice their position, the people of the United States overwhelming support man/woman marriage. We’ll take the recent victory in the Ninth Circuit and move confidently forward trusting that the common sense of millennia will prevail.