Best. Gay. Week. Ever. (May 16, 2008)

California Gay Marriage: What happens next?

Okay, this isn't exactly gay entertainment news, but it's so big I had to mention it. Starting in 30 days gay people can marry in California. Yay!

Yesterday, the California Supreme Court issued a landmark opinion which held that the state constitution prohibits California from denying same-sex unions the status of marriage. What this does is nullify Proposition 22, which was a voter initiative that restricted California's statutory definition of "marriage" to a union between "one man and one woman." Prop 22 was passed in March of 2000 with 61.4% of the vote.

Opponents and supporters of gay marriage
protest in front of California's Supreme Court

Photo credit: David Paul Morris/Getty Images

A petition for appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court has already been filed, but because the opinion yesterday was decided on state law grounds (and not federal), the U.S. Supreme Court will probably decline to hear this case.

Far more likely is yet another California voter initiative. Where Prop 22 amended the statute defining marriage, a new initiative would seek to amend California's Constitution. If it passes, it would trump yesterday's opinion and once again bar gays from getting married in the state of California. What is more, it would take the issue of gay marriage out of the hands of the California Supreme Court.

California Supreme Court Justice Ronald M. George
Photo credit: Pool/Getty Images

It's very likely that such an initiative will be put to California voters in November.

So the big question is, would such a voter initiative pass? If 61.4% of the California population voted for a ban on gay marriage in 2000, how many of those same people would vote for it now?

Let's hope some of those California voters were watching Brothers & Sisters last Sunday. And may I just say, Thank God we have a show like that on network television to help sway public opinion.

(You see how cleverly I segued from all that boring legal stuff back into gay entertainment commentary? Oh I'm good.)

If only Kevin & Scotty had waited a month!

I had conflicting feelings about the commitment ceremony on last week’s Brothers & Sisters. On the one hand I was thrilled that these two characters finally tied the knot and that it was treated as the climax of the season.

But on the other hand, I couldn’t help feeling that their wedding was devalued a bit, mostly by Scotty and Kevin themselves. I mean, what was with the tan and grey polyblend suits, or the forgotten wedding bands, or Kitty’s searching for appropriate words to describe them: Bride? Groom?

It was like the boys (and in some ways the show itself) had to implicitly sabotage their own commitment ceremony so no one could possibly say: “Those uppity gay guys. Trying to have a better wedding than us straights!”