Millions of Americans across the nation and in Southern California were waking up Saturday morning to the realization that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage wasn’t a dream – it was real.
Local and state officials joined a chorus of gays and gay supporters in applauding the court’s 5-4 ruling.
Not everyone was happy with the decision, however, as opponents of same-sex marriage expressed disappointment with the ruling.
Nevertheless, tens of thousands of people gathered in West Hollywood Friday night to celebrate the U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
“Since I was a young lawyer, I have carried a copy of the United States Constitution in my briefcase,” Lorri Jean, CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, told the crowd at West Hollywood Park as she held the booklet-sized Constitution in her right hand .
“Today, it finally includes us all.”
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, West Hollywood Mayor Lindsey Horvath, Lambda Legal Director of Legal Affairs Jon Davidson, Latino Equality Alliance Co-Founder and Advisory Board chair Ari Gutierrez Arambula and Equality California Executive Director Rick Zbur were also on the program.
Other local rallies were in Long Beach, Lancaster and Palmdale, as well as in the Palm Springs area, San Diego and elsewhere in Southern California.
“This is truly an historic day for the LGBT community and indeed the country at large,” said Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
“We welcome and join in celebrations nationwide, and applaud the Court and Justice (Anthony) Kennedy, in particular, for this ruling. One almost feels guilty bringing up the subject of sexual responsibility at a time when the gay community is celebrating the legal right to marry across the nation.
“But ironically, gay marriage — and the values any sanctioned marriage encourages — may be one of the single most successful ways to promote safer sex. One of the unintended consequences of the court’s ruling today could be a reduction in new HIV and STD infections among gay men.”
But not everyone was happy with the court ruling.
Opponents of same-sex marriage were quick to blast the Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing gay weddings, saying the court overstepped its authority.
“We’re not surprised, and we recognize that 31 states where the people have chosen to vote in traditional marriage, the protection of man-woman
marriage, should be extremely disappointed and asking what happened to their rights, the rights of the democratic process and people,” Ron Prentice of ProtectMarriage.com told NBC4.
ProtectMarriage.com was the leading proponent of Proposition 8, the measure that banned same-sex marriage in California until it was overturned.
“Today’s decision does grave injury to the basic concept that the people — not the courts — make the law,” the group’s general counsel, Andy
Pugno, said. “A bare majority of the Supreme Court has abruptly cut off this ongoing debate, unilaterally imposing its view of what’s good for society by suddenly discovering a new constitutional right that almost no one would have imagined just a few years ago.
“The `separation of powers’ they taught us in grade school is now dangerously out of balance, and it’s time to remind the government that all
constitutional power ultimately resides in the consent of the governed — not in kings, dictators or judges,” he said.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles referred inquiries about the ruling to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which issued a statement from Washington condemning the court’s decision.
“It is profoundly immoral and unjust for the government to declare that two people of the same sex can constitute a marriage,” according to
Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky. “The unique meaning of marriage as the union of one man and one woman is inscribed in our bodies as male and female. The protection of this meaning is a critical dimension of the `integral ecology’ that Pope Francis has called us to promote.
“Mandating marriage redefinition across the country is a tragic error that harms the common good and most vulnerable among us, especially children. The law has a duty to support every child’s basic right to be raised, where
possible, by his or her married mother and father in a stable home.”
–Staff and wire reports