Proposition 8 Ruling

The California Supreme Court's decision upholding Proposition 8 will not be the last word on the contentious issue of same sex marriage in our state.

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As much as she dreaded it, Jeanne Rizzo (seen at left in white, celebrating her marriage with long-timer partner Pali Cooper last summer)  had a sinking expectation well in advance that the court's ruling would go against the same sex marriage advocates who had sought to overturn Proposition 8.

The case before the court contended that passage of Proposition 8 last November didn't just amend the California state constitution, but created a substantive change to it by denying rights unequally to a subset of the population. The decision, in Romesburg's view, says more about California's legal and legislative standing than it does about same sex marriage.

Shortly after the Supreme Court decision was announced, KRCB was able to reach Jane Spahr (right), the Presbyterian minister who was threatened with internal sactions from the church for marrying two same sex couples in Sonoma County. Spahr was among the hundreds of protesters outside San Francisco City Hall (see photo below) and described the scene as she and dozens of others prepared to be arrested as part of that demonstration.

Demonstrators sit down at Van Ness Avenue at Grove Street. Protesters took part in a civil disobedience demonstration that blocked traffic on Van Ness following the California Supreme Courts decision upholding of Prop 8 vote, the ban on gay marriage.  About 100 protesters were arrested, a small portion of the crowd that turned out to object to the California Supreme Cour decision upholding Proposition 8.