• Listen to this segment

• Listen to the entire program

A federal appeals panel on Tuesday voted to strike down California’s controversial same-sex marriage ban by a 2-1 vote, opening the door to a Supreme Court show-down later this year. Proposition 8 was passed by 52% of California voters in 2008 banning same-sex marriage after the California Supreme Court opened the door for couples to marry. About 18,000 couples did marry before the ban took effect. The proposition has bounced from court to court ever since, being backed by a conservative coalition called ProtectMarriage.com. In expressing the majority opinion taken yesterday, Judge Stephen Reinhart, one of the two judges voting against the marriage ban wrote, “Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples… The Constitution simply does not allow for laws of this sort.” The vote taken by the 3 judge panel upholds a 2010 decision by district judge R. Vaughn Walker who had earlier ruled against Prop 8. Conseratives demanded Walker recuse himself from the case after he revealed that he was in a 10 year long same-sex relationship. Despite yesterday’s decision, same-sex weddings will likely not resume until the appeals process is complete. Prop 8 supporters will now decide whether to take their appeal to the 9th Circuit court, or go straight to the Supreme Court.

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

Follow Rick’s blog at www.prop8trialtracker.com.

Rick Santorum’s win in three states yesterday came at the same time that issues of same-sex marriage, the attacked on pro-choice organization Planned Parenthood, and a clash between the Catholic church and Obama were in the news. The Christian Science Monitor called Santorum “the top culture warrior of the 2012 presidential race,” underscoring the cache that these extreme conservative social values have in electoral politics, even when arrayed against liberal-leaning mainstream public opinion. The Obama administration’s earlier affirmation of requiring employer-provided health insurance companies to cover contraception regardless of the employer’s religious views sparked such a major outcry from the Catholic Church that the President is now softening his position. White house spokesperson Jay Carney announced yesterday that the President would be willing to work to allay some of the church’s concerns.

How is it that when the country is mired in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, elected officials and those vying for office place such a heavy emphasis on issues like reproductive rights, abortion, and gay rights? In a new book entitled Delirium: How the Sexual Counterrevolution is Polarizing America, historian, author, and Huffington Post writer Nancy L Cohen investigates what she calls “a shadow movement deep within both parties that is responsible for America’s current political crisis.”

Nancy L Cohen, historian, author, and contributor to The Huffington Post. She is the author of two books, including The Reconstruction of American Liberalism, 1865-1914. Her writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Business History Review, and elsewhere.

FUND DRIVE THANK YOU GIFTS:

Delirium: How the Sexual Counterrevolution is Polarizing America, by Nancy L Cohen (hardcover) – $120 pledge – limited availability

Call 818-985-5735 or visit www.kpfk.org to make a pledge.