As you’ve surely heard, yesterday a federal appeals court declared that Prop 8, the 2008 California ballot initiative that took the freedom to marry away from same-sex couples, violates the federal constitution.  The decision is another watershed moment in the country’s accelerating journey towards fairness in our marriage laws. 

The decision ducks the broad questions that the case could have presented – like whether the federal constitution requires not only California, but all states, to allow same-sex couples to marry – and instead rules based on the unique facts in California.  Unlike any other state, California took away from same-sex couples a right to marry that they already enjoyed under state law, while ensuring that they would still retain all the same rights and protections that marriage provides, although as domestic partners rather than spouses.  Because of that, the court explained, "Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples. The Constitution simply does not allow for laws of this sort."

By James D. Esseks

James D. Esseks is director of the  ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project , where he has worked since 2001. At the ACLU, Mr. Esseks oversees litigation around the country that aims to ensure equal treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people by the government; equal rights and protections for LGBT couples and families; protection from discrimination in jobs, schools, housing, and public accommodations; and fair treatment by the government of people living with HIV.  Prior to joining the ACLU, Mr. Esseks was a partner at Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard, P.C., in New York, where he represented employees in a range of employment matters. Mr. Esseks graduated from Yale College and Harvard Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. He clerked for the Honorable Robert L. Carter, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, and the Honorable James R. Browning, United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit. Periodically Mr. Esseks permits 10,000 Couples to reprint his posts for our readers. Consider making a gift to support the ACLU's LGBT Rights work   www.aclu.org/LGBTdonate