Somehow I think this might have been timed just to bring this to the forefront right now. I'm really not surprised by this.
Amendments are already on the ballot in a couple states.

Hmmm... my conspiracy sense is tingling.

Nothing pulls out the evangelicals like "dem gays is takin' over!!!". McCain needs all the help he can get.

It's a classic, you are right.

Al Franken jokes that Bush won in 2004 on his platform of "fear, smears, and queers."

I can't bear another repeat of that.

Whoo California

i was astonished to hear about this. fantastic. there has been a bit of discussion in australia about same sex unions since our recent change of government, but nothing about any debate in california so it was a bolt from the blue. i hope this turn of events helps catalyse change over here.

congratulations to california, and to all those who helped get this through.

It's all about the moderates. Most people in California don't agree with gay marriage, but most people in California aren't keen on writing discrimination into the state constitution. I don't believe the initiative will pass. There is a large number of moderates in the state who say they think gays should be allowed to have the rights as marriage, but not the name marriage. However, these moderates are also going to be very reluctant to make a change to the state constitution in order to put the ban into effect.

Combine this with the fact that thousands of same-sex couples will have married in the months leading up to November, and so not only would it be writing discrimination into the state constitution, but it would actually be taking a legal right away from a group of citizens.

I'm not saying it'll be a cake walk. The Religious Wrong has deep pockets across the nation and a voracious appetite for disenfranchising the LGBT community. They will pull out all the stops to push this misguided amendment through. Those of us who really believe in equality and justice will have to mobilize like never before to make sure that they are stopped. I really encourage anyone who supports this cause to donate money to one of the organizations leading the fight: Human Rights Campaign (hrc.org) and Equality California (eqca.org). Even a donation of $10 from fair-minded allies across the country would help. Think about how good it would feel to have a hand in protecting gay and lesbian Californians' (now) legal marriage rights.

Those of us who live in California, as many of us as can, need to mobilize by donating our time to working with these organizations, even one weekend this summer or fall, to get out there and spread the truth about this distasteful initiative.

I just hope that there is not a huge rush of people that run out and get married just because they can and only have until november to do it, (just in case), when not really ready to marry, and then end up getting a divorce. No one should rush into anything, and what we see in the heterosexual side of marriage is a huge divorce rate and we don't need to see that happen.

Holy schmoly! Once again the religious zealots think that they are the only people here with rights. I see many people having a problem maintaining their holy marriage and their sanctified vows, and end up divorcing. That is the real problem for marriage, allowing gays to legally unite is not. Are you forgetting that there are atheists who get married all the time, is it s sanctified union before God then? Give me a break. These believers need to learn that they aren't living in a country that they own and control, but they share with others who don't necessarily have the same beliefs as they do. And I seriously doubt that what happened in 2000 and 2004 will work this time. When people are worried about paying their bills and not losing their homes, these wedge issues become less important.

I don't think that's going to happen. LGBT people in California have been fighting too hard for this to just take it flippantly. The only people who are looking forward to getting married in the next few months are couples who have been waiting for the opportunity for years.

I went to a celebration rally at the county office in downtown San Jose yesterday where several politicos spoke in support of this decision. I'll write more about it later; gotta head to work now.