Like many people this afternoon, I was madly refreshing a Twitter search for “prop8” and reloading the California district court’s website, over and over. Finally, at about 3:15, unsubstantiated rumors began to show up on Twitter that Judge Walker was denying the motion for a stay, meaning that same-sex couples in California would be able to get married immediately. Other twitterers then retweeted those tweets, and a live online feed of local San Francisco TV outside city hall showed a crowd of pro-equality people cheering at the apparent denial.
But I was feeling cautious. There was no decision posted online, and no official word — just rumors, with no explanation of where the rumors came from or who was supplying them.
Finally, at about 3:40, the official decision appeared online. Yes, it grants a stay.
But not right now.
Judge Walker writes:
Because proponents fail to satisfy any of the factors necessary to warrant a stay, the court denies a stay except for a limited time solely in order to permit the court of appeals to consider the issue in an orderly manner.
(Emphasis mine.)
On the last page, Judge Walker states that his decision to deny a stay is itself stayed, until August 18 at 5 p.m. PDT. That gives the Ninth Circuit six days to hear and decide an appeal of Walker’s decision to let gay couples immediately marry. Six days is a long time. It’s perfectly conceivable that the Ninth Circuit will overrule Judge Walker and issue a stay. Now, Judge Walker lays out a very strong case for why there should not be a stay, and at 11 pages it makes a great, short read. But who knows what the Ninth Circuit will do?
Yet there are still people all over Twitter expressing happiness and congratulations. I don’t get it. I don’t want to be a party pooper, but look, this thing is not over. The Ninth Circuit could slam it down before any gay couples can get married again.
This is exactly why you should take unsubstantiated tweets with a grain of salt until you actually see proof of something. It’s silly and irresponsible to tweet to all your followers that the motion has been denied, on an issue of this emotional magnitude, just to try and be the first person to break the news, unless you’ve actually read the decision yourself.
Maybe the Ninth Circuit will do the right thing. I hope so. But six days is ages. The Ninth Circuit could overturn Judge Walker tomorrow. Or even tonight.
Tweet responsibly.
We were personally impacted by the early tweeting on the decision. We were one of the first ten couples standing in line at the Clerk of Court’s office today, among a couple dozen couples altogether, waiting to get a marriage license. Someone came into the corridor and stated, in what seemed to be an official announcement (tone, technically magnified volume) that the stay had been lifted and we could start being married. Twitter seemed to confirm this, though neither we, nor our friend, nor anyone around could find an actual named and verified source.
The room erupted in hugs and kisses and cheers and tears of joy — we hugged and kissed as soundly and cried and cheered as loudly as anyone, we were interviewed by countless reporters and gave quotes about how happy and overjoyed we were. Ten minutes went by before reports finally started to come in from the two far ends of the room about the hold, but confusing, uncertain reports at first. It left many of us dazed, trying to find out what was really going on. That ten minutes, in retrospect, feels like an eternity I’ll never really be able to forget. I’d have rather that no one jumped the gun and that we could have learned the contents of the entire ruling all at once, and in a way that we could comprehend, and to which we could then more honestly react (not that our reactions were anything but brutally honest, they just were reactions to a situation that wasn’t true or clearly communicated, and that left us drained, demoralized and, at first, maybe even a little bitter).
I don’t know how to begin to predict what will happen, with the Ninth Circuit. I hope it will do the right thing, too. Hope is all we’ve had for years, and it’s what we’ll have to keep holding onto. But Jeff and I aren’t going anywhere, and neither is our love and commitment. If we could have married today, we would have. If we can marry next Wednesday, we will. If we have to wait another two years, or four years, or ten years. We’ll wait. But we will marry, and we will have our rights.