Proposition 8 decision comes Tuesday

It’s going to be a mighty big day.

The California Supreme Court has announced that it will rule Tuesday, May 26, 2009, on whether Proposition 8 – passed by a slim majority of voters on November 4 and eliminating the right of same-sex couples to marry – was a valid amendment to the California Constitution.

This is the same court that made same-sex marriage legal in the state in the first place a year ago last week but it is impossible to read the tea leaves on this one. In addition to deciding whether to uphold Proposition 8, the justices are weighing whether to invalidate an estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages that took place last year after the Supreme Court struck down the prior gay marriage ban but before Proposition 8 went into effect.

Last week, there was a false report that Prop. 8 had been overturned that even goit on the LA Times Twitter feed. I noticed it on my Facebook feed and for about 45 seconds, had such a feeling of deep joy and relief. But then I noticed a comment on the post that said it had been an error and it was just so deflating.

On so, I think we are conditioned by now to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Gay marriage will return to this state though, whether it’s next week or in 2012 or beyond, it will happen.

If you want some company when the ruling comes down, at 10:30 a.m. – approximately 30 minutes after the expected posting of the ruling – attorneys for plaintiff couples will join community leaders at a news conference at the Lucy Florence Cultural Center in south Los Angeles to discuss the ruling and what it means for California’s same-sex couples and their families, communities of color, and the future of LGBT rights in California.