Equality is Coming, But Your Vote Determines How Soon

With yesterday's decision from a federal court in Riverside that the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy barring lesbians and gay men from serving openly in the armed forces is unconstitutional, we now have recent federal court rulings rejecting three policies that discriminate against LGBT individuals.

• The federal Prop. 8 case, in which Judge Walker rejected discrimination against same-sex couples as violating the U.S. Constitution.
• The case against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in which a Boston federal judge declared the law unconstitutional.
• Yesterday's DADT decision.

Each of these decisions will likely face a series of appeals, until it reaches the U.S. Supreme Court.  The current make up of the court makes it unlikely that a strong pro-equality stance would be taken if these cases were to be taken up.  The court is also likely to look for ways to avoid taking up these cases, or to decide the issues in a narrow way that carries fewer nationwide implications.

The Prop. 8 case is currently awaiting review by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has already rejected an attempt by anti-equality backers of Prop. 8 to force California Attorney General Jerry Brown and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to defend the initiative. Both Brown and Schwarzenegger have refused to defend Prop. 8 in court on behalf of the state, and Brown and AG candidate Kamala Harris have pledged not to defend Prop. 8 if elected in November. You can ask their opponents (Meg Whitman and Steve Cooley) to do the same, although they have so far refused to take the pledge.

Let's remember how important these elections are: California would already have marriage equality if we had a Governor who would have been willing to sign into law the marriage equality legislation that was passed by our legislature instead of vetoing it.  The U.S. Senate will soon take up the National Defense Authorization bill, which could allow for the repeal of DADT. Senator Barbara Boxer has pledged her commitment to marriage equality, and her opponent Carly Fiorina has stated her opposition. Who do you want making those decisions for our country and the brave LGBT women and men who serve?

It's good to see these recent judicial decisions moving California back to a place of being at the forefront of the civil rights movement, instead of behind states like Iowa, but we need to ensure that our state legislators, Governor, and statewide officials will support and work for equality.