Proponents of Proposition 8 filed their expected appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday evening, hoping to reinstate a stay against same-sex marriage and ultimately prevent new same-sex marriages from taking place in California next Wednesday.
A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether there is sufficient cause to hear the appeal of U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s Thursday decision to lift the temporary stay, which he issued last week after he ruled that a statewide ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.
Walker said the stay would be lifted on Aug. 18. He wrote that the Proposition 8 defenders failed to establish that significant harm would occur to the state or to the defendants’ interests if the marriages were to continue. He delayed lifting the stay immediately to allow time for the defendants to appeal.
Earlier on Thursday, anxious couples like Teresa Rowe and Kristin Orbin said they were disappointed to learn they could not marry. They received a blessing for their union last week and again on Thursday, but their legal marriage would have to wait.
Both had tears in their eyes as they headed out of City Hall.
“It took us from being completely ecstatic right back to the same roadblock we keep running into,” Orbin said.
Rowe said they sent text messages to friends and family, just as they had last week, telling them to come to City Hall for their wedding. Then they had to send another message that they would need to wait for the stay to be lifted.
“Friends and family are starting to feel that this has not only robbed us, but it’s robbed them,” Rowe said.
Luke Otterstad, who opposed the court ruling, was one of pro-Proposition 8 protestors outside City Hall.
“I think it’s really sad and it doesn’t make sense that one judge has that much power in this country,” he said.
