Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals just struck down Proposition 8, California's gay-marriage ban, ruling that it is "unconstitutional" and says "it lessens human dignity of gay and lesbian people."

Let's just simplify that to Proposition 8 was unconstitutional and lessens human dignity. From yesterday's ruling:

"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," wrote Judge Stephen Reinhardt.

"Although the constitution permits communities to enact most laws they believe to be desirable, it requires that there be at least a legitimate reason for the passage of a law that treats different classes of people differently. There was no such reason that Proposition 8 could have been enacted."

If you want to defend marriage, you need to make it an option for everyone, or else your "defense" is only lip service. If you believe in freedom and individual rights, you need to allow everyone - even those whose loving relationships make you do not share - to enjoy the same rights as you do. If you believe in America, you believe that everyone deserves the same freedom and opportunities - even to try and fail, or maybe especially that.

Today is a good day for freedom in the USA.

Chris