Well, it was expected. But it’s still crushing. From the Los Angeles Times a few minutes ago:
The justices uphold the same-sex marriage ban but also rule that the 18,000 gay couples who wed before the November vote will stay married. The decision is sure to spark another ballot box fight.
By Maura Dolan
10:08 AM PDT, May 26, 2009Reporting from San Francisco — The California Supreme Court today upheld Proposition 8’s ban on same-sex marriage but also ruled that gay couples who wed before the election will continue to be married under state law.
The decision virtually ensures another fight at the ballot box over marriage rights for gays. Gay rights activists say they may ask voters to repeal the marriage ban as early as next year, and opponents have pledged to fight any such effort. Proposition 8 passed with 52% of the vote.
Although the court split 6-1 on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the justices were unanimous in deciding to keep intact the marriages of as many as 18,000 gay couples who exchanged vows before the election. The marriages began last June, after a 4-3 state high court ruling striking down the marriage ban last May.
In an opinion written by Chief Justice Ronald M. George, the state high court ruled today that the November initiative was not an illegal constitutional revision, as gay rights lawyers contended, nor unconstitutional because it took away an inalienable right, as Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown argued.
Only Justice Carlos R. Moreno, the court’s sole Democrat, wanted Proposition 8 struck down as an illegal constitutional revision.
I have no doubt there will be protests and rallies. I have no doubt that same-sex marriage will eventually be legal in California. But I feel for all those who will suffer because of this.
I’ll have more considered thoughts later.
Nicola Griffith 
Expected but still heartbreaking.
I like this video. It ends with this statement:
“Our love didn’t begin with a court decision
and it won’t end with one either.”
< HREF="http://wontbackdown.org/" REL="nofollow">We Won’t Back Down.<>
Upholding the right to be married…& striking it down…in one fell, contradictory, silly swoop.
I want the Civil Rights Movement to keep putting it to ballot & then not advertising…maybe we can bankrupt the Mormons?
I’m sorry this is such a rough road. We’ll get there one day.
Jennifer, thanks for the video link.
The fight continues…
This is politics, plain and simple. Not surprising that 6 Republican California justices upheld Prop 8. Let’s remember, the Presidential election was not that long ago. Scores of people are supported by their prejudice re-asserting itself as being right.
In my heart I am married. In my heart I am free to love.
Nobody takes that from me. Now or ever.
From the decision: “Proposition 8 reasonably must be interpreted… as eliminating only the right of same-sex couples to equal access to the designation of marriage, and as not otherwise affecting the constitutional right of those couples to establish an officially recognized family relationship.”
In other words, gays can still legally get married as long as they don’t call it “marriage.” Here’s the explanation by someone much smarter than I am:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/5/26/735571/-Read-page-36.They-just-cut-Prop-8-to-the-bone
CA already had civil unions. This is like saying ‘separate but equal.’ Until we get full rights across all states we will be relegated to the back of the bus. Once enough states recoognize it, the fed govt will have to join in.
As usual, the thoughtful jennifer d is right. Anythig but recognized same sex marriage is just mutton disguised as lamb. If I didn’t have so many friends there, I’d think it was about time for CA to fall into the ocean.
Re: falling into the sea– at least CA is having a dialogue about it. The wrong side is winning, but so many states are whistling & trying REALLY HARD to look nonchalant while not doing ANYTHING about it…