Channel4000.com is reporting that Three judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that same-sex marriages can resume “effective immediately” in the state of California, a move that the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for with its ruling two days ago.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris was already at San Francisco City Hall marrying same-sex couples, her press office said.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal over same-sex marriage on jurisdictional grounds, ruling that private parties do not have “standing” to defend California’s voter-approved ballot measure (known as Proposition 8) barring gay and lesbian couples from state-sanctioned wedlock.
The ruling clears the way for Friday’s lift of the hold on marriages.
“This is not about a legal brief. This was not about some abstract. This was about human beings, human dignity. It was the narrative and the story of their lives and their denials, but also their perseverance and their triumph that we’re all celebrating here today,” California’s Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom told CNN this week.
California Gov. Jerry Brown issued a statement this week saying he has directed the state’s Department of Public Health to tell counties they need to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as soon as the 9th Circuit confirms the stay has been lifted. Newsom said the state courts could lift the stay at any time, but that it will take some time before California begins issuing same-sex marriage licenses
