Good news:
(CBS/AP) The California attorney general has changed his position on the state's new same-sex marriage ban and is now urging the state Supreme Court to void Proposition 8.
Jerry Brown filed a brief Friday saying the measure that amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman is unconstitutional. He says it deprives gay couples of a fundamental right.
After California voters passed Proposition 8 on Nov. 4, Brown said he would fight to uphold the initiative in his role as attorney general, even though he personally voted against it.
Three separate lawsuits are going forward in regards to the proposition, and at stake in one of them is the legality of the existing marriages that took place before the proposition was passed.
The sponsors of Proposition 8 are asking the state Supreme Court to nullify the marriages of the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who exchanged vows before voters approved the ballot initiative.
The Yes on 8 campaign filed a brief arguing that because the new law holds that only marriages between a man and a woman are recognized or valid in California, the state can no longer recognize the existing same-sex unions.
Further discussion of Brown's reversal of position is going on in shayera's diary, while eugene analyzes the move to retroactively strip the legality from the existing 18,000 gay marriages in California.