Prop. 8 sinks gay morale

When the California Supreme Court overturned a ban on same-sex marriage this summer, a flood of local gay couples rushed to the courthouse in Santa Ana to get marriage licenses.

But even as they celebrated, many gay newlyweds remained skeptical that their marriages would continue to be recognized, as political and religious leaders statewide called for a ballot proposition eliminating the right of same-sex couples to marry.

After the initiative — Proposition 8 — passed by a roughly 52-48 margin, some of the local couples that were married in the few-month window of legality still have their legal certificates, but many say that the papers have lost their psychological significance.

“When I woke up on Wednesday morning I felt once again that I woke up in a hostile world,” said Laura Kanter, who attended a vigil at the Fairview Community Church in Costa Mesa on Wednesday night.

Kanter married her partner, Karla Bland, on Aug. 8, well aware that Proposition 8 might pass. She said that most of the legal rights afforded to them as a couple were granted by their civil union, but the official marriage certificate gave them a morale boost because it was a sign that those around them recognized their partnership as a sacred institution.

Although others have challenged the assertion, California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown has said that gay marriages instituted before the ban will continue to be recognized, but that’s hardly any consolation to Newport Beach resident Jim Albright.

Albright and his partner, Tom Peterson, were one of the first local couples in line at the Santa Ana courthouse on the first day that gays were allowed to legally wed.

Now, after the passage of Proposition 8 on Tuesday, the couple is still married, but Albright says the psychological lift that their government-affirmed equality gave him has disappeared.

“Tom and I had a huge reception here at the house, and all of those people treated it like a wedding and not like something other than a wedding. Relatives flew in from all over the country. It was very different than registering as domestic partners,” Albright said.

Proponents of the ban on gay marriage cite different reasons for voting “yes,” but many said that they were worried that allowing same-sex unions to be called marriages would lead to activism in schools.

Christopher Jones, a Newport Beach Mormon, got very involved in the campaign for Proposition 8, even waving signs on street corners, but he said that he thinks gay and straight couples should be treated the same under the law.

“I feel very sorry about this, and personally I would hope that all the marriages already done would be recognized. My real concern was what a few activists would do with this if it were not passed,” Jones said.

He cited San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s comment that “[gay marriage] is going to happen, whether you like it or not” — featured on many Yes on 8 TV ads — as one of the things that galvanized him.

Jones said one of his nephews is gay and that he supports equal rights for gay and straight couples, but is afraid that Proposition 8’s failure would have led to the widespread, forced teaching of gay marriage to kids of a young age — something that he opposes.

However, many of the initiative’s supporters do take issue with calling same-sex unions marriages from a religious standpoint.

“Not all marriages are considered equally desirable, and I think that’s a fair inference from the way the law has always been,” said Armand Mauss, spokesman for the Church of Latter Day Saints in Orange County. “It’s not just a discrimination that the Mormons think is reasonable: It’s a discrimination that the majority of voters think is a reasonable one.”

Although Mormons gave millions of dollars to the campaign for Proposition 8, Mormon congregations are divided on the issue, Mauss said.

The Rev. Sarah Halverson of the Fairview Community Church, a church that supports gay marriages, has been one of the area’s most vocal faith leaders in opposition to Proposition 8.

Halverson has performed four gay weddings this year. When she found out the proposition passed, she called an impromptu vigil at her church Wednesday night. About 50 people showed up on three hours’ notice.

“As a pastor I’m just heartbroken. I’m so deeply pained and I’m angry,” Halverson said through tears Friday.

Although devastated, some of the local gay rights activists see a bright side to the decision.

Proposition 8 passed by a much slimmer margin than Proposition 22 — a similar ban a few years back that was greeted with overwhelming support from the electorate — and Halverson, Albright and Kanter all look at that fact as a sign of inevitable progress toward the right of same-sex couples to marry.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.