California: Support for marriage equality continues to grow

Fifty-six percent of likely California voters now favor allowing same-sex couples to legally marry, according to a poll released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC).

The poll represents an increase in public support for the freedom to marry from an identically worded poll of likely voters conducted in September 2011 by Equality California, which marked support at 51%.

This news comes on the heels of a Field poll released last week that showing that support for marriage equality had reached as high as 59% among all California adults.

Los Angeles Mayor: Democratic platform should include marriage equality

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the chair of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, expressed his support for a marriage equality plank in the party platform in an interview with Politico.

Said Villaraigosa: “I do, I think it’s basic to who we are. I believe in family values and I believe that we all ought to be able to have a family and marry if you want to. I don’t think the government should be in that business of denying people the fundamental right to marry.”

At least 18 senators have expressed support for adding marriage equality to the platform.  Freedom to Marry launched a campaign to that end last month.
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Support for marriage equality jumps in California

California registered voters now favor same-sex unions by 59 percent to 34 percent, a 25-point gap that is the largest margin of support for the issue in the three-plus decades the Field Poll has been asking the question.

The new Field survey shows support has leapt markedly in the three and a half years since California voters approved Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage, 52.3 percent to 47.7 percent.

The poll showed increases in support virtually across the board – among voters under 64, non-white voters, Catholics, Republicans and nonpartisans.

Poll Director Mark DiCamillo said the move to a 25-point gap goes beyond the gradual increase in support that has been expected as young voters age and "replace" older voters in the electorate.

"This is now showing that opinions are changing irrespective of generational replacement," DiCamillo said. "This is real change."

"The winds of change are blowing in other states (and) when judges start ruling the same way, I believe that has an influence," he said.
(source)

Prop 8 backers to ask 9th Circuit for larger panel ruling

The proponents of Proposition 8 intend to appeal for an en banc ruling from the full Ninth Circuit Court. Earlier this month a three-judge panel of Ninth Circuit members voted to uphold the overturn of Prop 8.  Now the haters want MORE 9th Circuit judges to hear an appeal.

Chris Geidner explains at Metro Weekly:

Usually, en banc review involves all of the active judges on the court, but the Ninth Circuit -- due to the more than 20 active judges on the circuit -- has adopted a unique "limited en banc" procedure in which all the active Ninth Circuit judges vote whether en banc consideration will be given. That will be the request made by today's filing.

If a majority of the court supports en banc consideration, then the chief judge of the circuit, Judge Alex Kozinski, and 10 randomly selected appellate judges from the circuit will hear the en banc appeal, which can involve briefing and oral arguments.

After that decision is reached, theoretically, a party dissatisfied with an en banc ruling of the Ninth Circuit can ask for the full Ninth Circuit to review the en banc panel's decision, but the court has not agreed to do so since adopting the "limited en banc" procedure.

The never ending saga continues...

BREAKING: Federal Appeals Court finds Prop 8 unconstitutional

From Think Progress: In a 2 to 1 ruling, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed Judge Walker’s decision declaring that Proposition 8 violates the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Constitution.

"Although the Constitution permits communities to enact most laws they believe to be desirable, it requires that there be at least a legitimate reason for the passage of a law that treats different classes of people differently. There was no such reason that Proposition 8 could have been enacted," the ruling states.

“Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples,” Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote in the majority opinion.

The court said gay marriages cannot resume in the state until the deadline passes for Proposition 8 sponsors to appeal to a larger panel of the 9th Circuit. If such an appeal is filed, gay marriages will remain on hold until it's resolved.