Appeals Court Upholds No on Prop 8

"By using their initiative power to target a minority group and withdraw a right that it possessed, without a legitimate reason for doing so, the People of California violated the Equal Protection Clause. We hold Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional on this ground. We don not doubt the importance of the more general questions presented to us concerning the rights of same-sex couples to marry, nor do we doubt that these questions will likely be resolved in other states, and for the nation as a whole, by other courts. For now, it suffices to conclude that the People of California may not, consistent with the Federal Constitution, add to their state const itution a provision that has no more practical effect than to strip gays and lesbians of their right to use the official designation that the State and society give to committed relationships, thereby adversely affecting the status and dignity of the members of a disfavored class. The judgement of the district court is AFFIRMED."

Circuit Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt, for U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, February 7, 2012. Perry v. Brown, Nos. 10-16696, 11-16577 - opinion regarding the constitutionality of Proposition 8 and the denial of a motion to vacate the lower court judgment in the case – appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

NAACP Supports Marriage Equality

"The NAACP Constitution affirmatively states our objective to ensure the "political, educational, social and economic equality" of all people. Therefore, the NAACP has opposed and will continue to oppose any national, state, local policy or legislative initiative that seeks to codify discrimination or hatred into the law or to remove the Constitutional rights of LGBT citizens. We support marriage equality consistent with equal protection under the law provided under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution..." Resolution passed by the NAACP Board of Directors, May 19, 2012.

President Obama Supports Same-Sex Marriage

[We can't find an adequate primary source, but this is so important that we had to post something. Here's a clip from ABC on YouTube. Note: don't click their link - it crashed our browser; ABC site, you have to watch the whole show; Yahoo News, not acceptable; inexplicably not on the White House official site; and pay-to-play only on the official Obama-Biden site] Click the following: President Obama expresses his personal support for same-sex marriage on ABC-TV's Good Morning America, May 9, 2012.