Prop. 8 Passage Thwarts Vows
The Press Democrat
By Laura Norton
November 6, 2008

Sonoma County halts marriage licenses for same-sex couples

Today was supposed to be Susan Hanley's wedding day.

But that plan changed when the Seattle woman took a call Wednesday from the Sonoma County Clerk's Office, where she had booked a 2 p.m. ceremony with her partner, Louise Fuhr.

After a decisive victory for Proposition 8, the initiative on Tuesday's ballot defining marriage in the state constitution as a union between a man and woman, Sonoma County decided it would no longer issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Her wedding, Hanley was told, had to be canceled.

"I feel disappointment," Hanley said. "Disappointment in the fact that I still see intolerance and it saddens me." She said that when it comes to gay marriage, "the thought I have is, 'What's the big deal?' "

But Proposition 8 was a big deal for voters.

Sonoma County voters overwhelmingly voted no on Proposition 8 -- 66.1 percent to 33.9 percent. But statewide the proposition passed by a margin of 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent. Opponents of same-sex marriage won by even bigger margins in Arizona and Florida.

The change came immediately as same-sex weddings such as Hanley's were canceled or denied.

"If we were to advise to go ahead and perform a marriage, it would be putting people at risk who think they might be married and perhaps they really weren't," said Steven Woodside, Sonoma County's legal counsel. "The number one thing is that we have to do what is legally authorized to do."

Strong voter support for the measure came from the Central Valley and portions of Los Angeles County. Of the nine Bay Area counties, only Solano backed the measure.

Some churches and their clergy and congregations played a strong role in advocating for passage. The Catholic Church, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a coalition of other churches helped bring money into the pro-Prop. 8 campaign and mobilized voters.

The measure was one of the most expensive ballot measures ever waged in California, with combined spending of more than $75 million.

"I played a lot of football, and it feels like the day after a big game," said Brad Hardisty of Windsor, a Mormon who campaigned for Proposition 8. "I know there are some sore hearts on both sides."

Hardisty said his support of the proposition was based on his belief in God and his faith that marriage is a holy union between a man and a woman.

"It gets down to the purpose of life and is there a God," he said.

Gerry Hornbeck of Santa Rosa also campaigned for Proposition 8, including spending time at the Sonoma County Fair last summer manning a booth in support of the initiative.

Hornbeck was pleased, but not surprised that it passed. But the threat of a legal challenge, which became reality when gay rights supporters filed three lawsuits with the California Supreme Court, angered him.

"Why vote when someone can say, 'I don't like your vote so I'll get a judge to change it?' " he said.

The lawsuits argue that the proposition fundamentally changes California's Constitution and that it should have received legislative approval before being considered by voters.

The case was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Lamda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

"If the voters approved an initiative that took the right to free speech away from women, but not from men, everyone would agree that such a measure conflicts with the basic ideals of equality enshrined in our constitution," the groups said in a statement.

Jenny Pizer, a staff attorney with Lambda Legal, said: "Proposition 8 suffers from the same flaw -- it removes a protected constitutional right -- here, the right to marry -- not from all Californians, but just from one group of us."

State Attorney General Jerry Brown vowed to protect the legal status of same-sex couples married between 5:01 p.m on June 16 and through Nov. 4, but said that he also would uphold the proposition preventing future same-sex couples from marrying.

"The Attorney General's role is to defend California law, and I will do so," Brown said in a written statement. "I will defend in court the marriages contracted during the time that same-sex marriage was the law of California. I will also defend the proposition as enacted by the people of California."

The right to same-sex marriage was established by the California Supreme Court in a landmark ruling in May. The decision overturned a 2000 ballot measure establishing a California state law against same-sex marriage, which passed with 61 percent of the vote.

According to an estimate by the UCLA law school's Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy, 16,000 such couples married.

In Sonoma County, Deputy Marriage Commissioner Vicki Petersen estimated 600 couples wed, 71 of them since Friday.

"There was a lot of emotion," Peter-sen said of the final unions. "There was the sense that this was the end."

The lobby at Petersen's county office, where for weeks jubilant gay couples lined up to wed, was morgue-like on Wednesday as she took phone calls from couples concerned about their legal same-sex unions and plans to wed.

"I just hope couples who live here in Sonoma County have peace in knowing that those who live in this county supported them," Petersen said.

Hanley still plans to be in Sonoma County today. But instead of marrying, she will be having lunch with family and friends.

Despite her disappointment, she is happy that she and Fuhr didn't plan an earlier wedding date.

Despite Brown's promises to defend unions already made, Hanley fears gay marriages between June and November will eventually be dissolved by the passage of Proposition 8.

"It would break my heart to have that and have it taken away," she said.