The historic votes of four states this week in favor of gay marriage — an apparent sea change in U.S. public opinion — have sparked the hopes of many Californians who want to turn the tide in the Golden State. But that doesn’t mean advocates of gay marriage want to see Californians vote on another ballot measure here. Instead, they’re counting on a relatively conservative U.S. Supreme Court to make same-sex unions legal throughout the country.
“We shouldn’t have to go state after state after state — it’ll take forever,” said gay marriage activist Billy Bradford of Castro Valley. He said activists are hoping for a ruling similar to the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended all restrictions on interracial marriage, “so we can move on to other things that face this country.”
Bradford said there is also widespread hope in the gay community that the high court will decide this month not to take a case involving Proposition 8, the 2008 California initiative that banned same-sex marriage. If that happens, gay couples in California could be tying the knot very soon. That’s because a federal judge and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have already struck down Proposition 8.
