Same-sex marriages performed before the November elections should remain valid even if Proposition 8 passes, according to California Attorney General Jerry Brown. Proposition 8 would amend the constitution to declare “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”
According to the SF Chronicle, “Brown's position is significant because his office will represent the state in lawsuits over Prop. 8's validity and meaning if it passes.”
Said Brown, noting that Prop. 8 mentions nothing about retroactivity: “I believe that marriages that have been entered into subsequent to the (May 15) Supreme Court opinion will be recognized by the California Supreme Court. I would think the court, in looking at the underlying equities, would most probably conclude that upholding the marriages performed in that interval (before the election) would be a just result.”
In an unsurprising move, the California Catholic Conference (representing the archdioceses of Los Angeles and San Francisco and the dioceses of Fresno, Monterey, Oakland, Orange, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Jose, Santa Rosa and Stockton) endorsed Proposition 8 on Monday: “In the statement, the bishops say their position is based partly on the presumption that while all people deserve to be treated with dignity, being raised by a married mother and father is ‘the ideal for the well being of children.'”
