Students Celebrate Prop 8 Demise

To some people, February is considered the month of love. Shops are decorated with hearts and flowers, student organizations host date auctions, and a lot of weddings are scheduled during this month. The Judiciary system usually does not participate in these activities, but the recent decision of the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is making an impact that will affect not only February, but also American culture.

A California panel of judges struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, known as Proposition 8, as unconstitutional. The justices concluded that the law’s only purpose was to deny homosexual couples the right to marry. The state of California does grant them the rights and benefits of marriage if they register as domestic partners. The ruling will not take effect until the two-week deadline passes for supporters of Proposition 8 to appeal to a larger panel of the 9^th Circuit Court.

College students across the country have expressed their outrage against Proposition 8 since it was approved in 2008. GW students have been especially vocal about this legislation.

Michael Komo is a GW graduate student completing his five year master’s/bachelor’s program in Political Science and Legislative Affairs. As the president and founder of Allied in Pride Graduate Students, Komo was “elated” with the announcement on Tuesday.

“This victory will help us move toward marriage equality for everyone,” he said.

Alesandra Lozano, a senior at the Elliott School studying International Affairs and Women’s Studies, was “disgusted” when Proposition 8 passed in 2008.

“Prop 8’s mere existence, in my opinion, is a shameful case of a deliberate intent to discriminate and an embarrassing example of a majority being permitted to trump the rights of a minority,” said Lozano, a student coordinator at GW’s LGBT Resource Center.

Demonstrations against Proposition 8 have taken form in protests and social media campaigns.

“I protested immediately after the passage of Proposition 8 in November 2008,” said Komo. “GW students joined several other groups of students from other DC universities. We protested from the White House to the Capitol and had great coverage and support from very diverse groups and communities.”

In 2009, Washington, DC passed the same-sex marriage law. There are currently six states that allow homosexual couples to wed: Connecticut, New Hampshire, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont.

Komo believes that “the struggle to legalize same-sex marriage is the twenty-first century version of the struggle to legalize interracial marriage.”

“This has sent the message that our relationships are just as valuable,” said Lozano, “that our relationships are not inferior and that our families deserve the same amount of dignity and recognition as heterosexual families.”