Same Sex Marriage Now Legal in California
I heard from Lorien that same-sex couples can now get legally married in California. I knew the California Supreme Court had ruled that restricting marriage to the opposite sex was unconstitutional on the state level on May 15, but it took until 5:01 p.m. today (June 16) for that decision to stand. (for a discussion of the May 15 decision, see http://loveshade.org/blog/2008/05/california_may_accept_marriage.html)
California is the second state to do this, and several couples have gotten married there already.
Of course there's protests, calls for changing the law, etc. There's a California measure coming up for vote in a few months that would specifically ban same-sex marriage. And because U. S. states recognize marriage as defined by other U. S. states, it puts anti-gay-marriage states in something of a bind. This will probably beef up the idea of amending the U. S. Constitution to a "one-man, one-woman" marriage amendment. My friend Alden claims that marriage in the U. S. has never been controlled by the federal government, and this would put even more power in the hands of big wigs in Washington.
So what think? Should same-sex marriage be legal? Should the federal government be able to control marriage? For that matter, should the state government be able to control marriage? And what about governments of other countries?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080617/ap_on_re_us/gay_marriage
(members of The Loveshade Family contributed to this report)
The International Astronomical Union (Motto: All Astronomers Must Bow to Us!) has announced a new term for dwarf planets such as Pluto and Eris: plutoid. (See