Calif same-sex couples eager to get married
(CBS News) LOS ANGELES - Same-sex couples in California fought for years for the right to marry. Turns out, they'll have to wait a bit longer -- even though the U.S. Supreme Court overturned California's ban, Proposition 8.
Los Angeles attorney Jennifer Post and Teri Kinne, a wedding planner, were married in a Buddhist ceremony in 2009, but their union wasn't recognized in California.
Wednesday's Supreme Court ruling striking down Proposition 8 changed their lives.
"I mean, we don't have a marriage certificate yet, but now we can get one," Post said.
"I'm so excited," Kinne added. "I would marry her again and again and again."
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Kinne said it's a good time to be a wedding planner.
"Now that it's legal, I really think that business is gonna go up, because we've waited so long."
California's Attorney General Kamala Harris told state officials to be ready to issue same-sex marriage licenses when the Supreme Court ruling goes into effect in 25 days.
"The wedding bells will ring," Harris said.
UCLA estimates 37,000 California same-sex couples are likely to marry in the next three years, generating more than $490 million in business revenue; $40 million in state taxes. Opponents are marshalling their resources to limit same sex marriage to the 13 states where it is now legal.
John Eastman is chair of the National Organization for Marriage, which worked to ban same-sex marriage in California. He says the tide has not turned.
"It's just a trickle so far," Eastman said. "I think it's not going to happen anytime soon in those 37 states that voted recently to uphold traditional marriage."
Post, however, said she thinks decisions like the one the Supreme Court made Wednesday signals the tide as indeed turned.
"Although we're not moving as quickly as we want to, I don't think we're ever going to go backwards," she said.
Legal observers say they expect future law suits when married same sex couples try to assert their rights or get a divorce in a state that doesn't recognize their union.
