Gabriel Arana explains why more than marriage is at stake in the federal legal challenge to Prop. 8:
On Nov. 4, 2008, when the polls closed on the West Coast and media outlets reported that California voters had passed Proposition 8, gay-rights supporters across the country were stunned. How could the purported gay haven of California — home to Hollywood, Harvey Milk, and the Castro — have rejected same-sex marriage?
It was an odd cultural moment, infused with the countervailing energy and promise of Barack Obama‘s victory. While progressives across the country danced in the streets chanting, “Yes We Can,” angry gay-rights supporters gathered on the steps of the state Capitol in Sacramento carrying signs that expressed their indignation: “No More Mr. Nice Gay.” As Obama declared in his victory speech, the ground had shifted, but in the Golden State, it had moved in opposite directions.
