Does this mean these couples get to register twice...

The California Supreme Court has just issued its decision in the case challenging the validity of nearly 4,000 marriages performed in San Francisco earlier this year. The court invalidated the marriages, but its ruling isn't exactly what the anti-gay right is undoubtedly going to pretend it is.

When San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom began granting marriage licenses to gay couples in February, he did so because he felt the California constitution's prohibition against discrimination was more important than a state law banning gay marriage. The Supreme Court didn't say whether that contention was true. It just said that he isn't entitled to make that judgment for himself. Interpreting laws and deciding whether laws violate a constitution is a job for the courts, not the mayor, the Supreme Court said.

Now the Bush campaign is going to spin this as a victory for their hateful anti-gay cause. But it undercuts their assertion that they aren't against gays, they are just against courts deciding issues instead of the legislature. As if the Bush administration ever cared about maintaining power for a governmental branch that wasn't their own. "Activist judges" have been the problem all along, apparently. Always trying to hand out civil rights to people just because they are discriminated against. Sheesh! People, not judges, should get to decide the issue for themselves, they say. But in the San Francisco case, the California Supreme Court says that judges -- and not the people's elected representative -- should make the determination about the law on gay marriage.

California courts will soon get their chance to weigh in on the question that wasn't answered today. Lambda Legal and a number of other groups have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of California's law against gay marriage.

And in a statement released just after the California Supreme Court ruled this morning, People for the American Way President Ralph Neas made it clear that the fight will continue nationwide as well. "While today's ruling is heartbreaking for thousands of committed gay and lesbian couples and for their friends and families, it is far from the final word on the struggle toward full equality," Neas said. "Our nation's history is a story of steady progress achieved by people working together to eradicate discrimination from our laws and institutions. Every battle against discrimination has encountered resistance. Every fight for equality has faced setbacks. But the deeply rooted American values of freedom, fairness, and equality under the law will be victorious in the end." Sing it, sister! It's just a matter of time.