California Same-Sex Marriage

At 5 p.m. PDT (8 p.m. EDT) Monday, the California Supreme Court's May ruling creating homosexual marriage took effect and the words "Party A" and "Party B" replaced "bride" and "groom" on marriage licenses. Hundreds, if not thousands, of same-sex couples throughout California took advantage of the occasion.

The decision by the California Supreme Court — to implement its May 15 decision legalizing same-sex "marriage," despite the fact that an amendment poised to nullify that decision is now on the November ballot — poses a real and present danger to the democratic process in this state. *

Last month the court voted 4-3 to declare unconstitutional the existing law defining marriage as exactly what the great majority of Californians know it to be: the union of one man and one woman. To issue that ruling, the four-judge majority had to ignore thousands of years of legal tradition and the clear wishes of most California voters —instead deciding to experiment in lawmaking and culture-shifting.

Unfortunately, four judges facilitated that compromise by assuming the role of the legislature, dispensing with hundreds of years of unshakable legal precedent, and carelessly ignoring the votes of more than 4 million Californians.

Of course, none of that matters to those pressing the homosexual legal and political agenda.

The same-sex couples now lining up to have their "marriage" licenses approved are doing so knowing full well that such unions are under a cloud of uncertainty until November.

That's the choice California's voters will have to make, come November — a choice not only to defend marriage, but to protect the foundations of their democratic system.

I hope the ceremonies spark a backlash among California voters this fall, when they face a referendum on the ballot asking to overturn the California Court's decision. A potential backlash that will help preserve the definition of marriage as one man and one woman under the state constitution.

It's a tragic day for this country when California judges impose so-called gay marriage and the governor so easily relents to judicial activism. I think it is very wrong, and I hope it gets overturned in November.

(*) Los Angeles Times.