Prop. 8 sinks gay morale

When the California Supreme Court overturned a ban on same-sex marriage this summer, a flood of local gay couples rushed to the courthouse in Santa Ana to get marriage licenses.

But even as they celebrated, many gay newlyweds remained skeptical that their marriages would continue to be recognized, as political and religious leaders statewide called for a ballot proposition eliminating the right of same-sex couples to marry.

After the initiative — Proposition 8 — passed by a roughly 52-48 margin, some of the local couples that were married in the few-month window of legality still have their legal certificates, but many say that the papers have lost their psychological significance.

“When I woke up on Wednesday morning I felt once again that I woke up in a hostile world,” said Laura Kanter, who attended a vigil at the Fairview Community Church in Costa Mesa on Wednesday night.

Kanter married her partner, Karla Bland, on Aug. 8, well aware that Proposition 8 might pass. She said that most of the legal rights afforded to them as a couple were granted by their civil union, but the official marriage certificate gave them a morale boost because it was a sign that those around them recognized their partnership as a sacred institution.

Although others have challenged the assertion, California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown has said that gay marriages instituted before the ban will continue to be recognized, but that’s hardly any consolation to Newport Beach resident Jim Albright.

Albright and his partner, Tom Peterson, were one of the first local couples in line at the Santa Ana courthouse on the first day that gays were allowed to legally wed.

Now, after the passage of Proposition 8 on Tuesday, the couple is still married, but Albright says the psychological lift that their government-affirmed equality gave him has disappeared.

“Tom and I had a huge reception here at the house, and all of those people treated it like a wedding and not like something other than a wedding. Relatives flew in from all over the country. It was very different than registering as domestic partners,” Albright said.

Proponents of the ban on gay marriage cite different reasons for voting “yes,” but many said that they were worried that allowing same-sex unions to be called marriages would lead to activism in schools.