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California’s on-again, off-again approval of same-sex marriage is off — at least until early December. On August 16th a Ninth Circuit Court of appeals extended the two-week stay on same sex marriages first imposed by Judge Vaughn Walker. Judge Walker issued the stay on August 4th after ruling that proposition 8 was unconstitutional, saying he was giving the legal defense for Proposition 8 time to file for an appeal. That stay was set to end Wednesday August 18th. Walker publicly stated that he doubted a legal reason could be found to appeal his 138-page decision. The Ninth Circuit Court ruling has extended that two week stay indefinitely and without explanation, but it will expedite the appeals hearing. It usually takes a year before an appeal is heard after filing, but the Ninth Circuit will hear this case in the week of December 6th. Before the Prop.8 legal team can argue against Judge Walker’s ruling, they must first prove that they have the right, or “standing”, in legal jargon, to appeal his ruling at all. While the extended stay does not indicate that the Appeals court is sympathetic to opponents of same sex marriage, it dealt a blow to the gay rights community and to the many same sex couples who celebrated the Judge Walker’s ruling as well as those who made plans to be married last week.

GUEST: Rick Jacobs, Founder and Chair of the Courage Campaign

Courage Campaign is a multi-issue, online advocacy organization, working to bring progressive change to California and full equality to America.

Read Rick Jacobs’ blog at www.prop8trialtracker.com.