California Ninth Circuit Denies Request To Lift Stay On Same-Sex Marriage

As we all know, same-sex marriage is on hold in California until the case can be heard by the Ninth circuit and before we do that, we have to determine if there is anyone who can legally act to defend the law....the process will likely take us to the end of this year and probably far beyond. In the mean-time the legal duo of Ted Olsen and David Boies had submitted a request to lift the stay on performing further same-sex marriages, citing that permitting that allowing the stay to remain would do harm to gay couples...it does. Ted Olsen also commented that asking California's gay and lesbian couples to "wait it out" while the California Supreme Court addresses the question of standing in "unreasonable and unjust".

So what did the Ninth Circuit have to say today to such a reasoned and impassioned plea?.......In a move that surprised no one they elected to allow the stay to remain in place. The court justified its decision by claiming that the circumstances surrounding the case have not substantially changed enough to warrant lifting the stay. In other words..."We don't want to deal with the political fall out and general ruckus lifting the stay would create."

This may not have been the outcome that we were hoping for However, it also does not have any bearing on the final outcome of the case. It's just another sign along the way that the wait will be a long one. However, I don't think any of us expected it to be anything less.

Until next time dear readers....