Soquel's Grace (left) and Alexis Coulson were married a month before Prop. 8 passed, and will celebrate their five-year anniversary with their marriage no longer in a legal gray area.
On June 23, an admittedly odd coalition of U.S. Supreme Court justices—including Chief Justice John Roberts and the notoriously anti-gay Justice Antonin Scalia—ruled that they had no authority to take on a case challenging California’s Proposition 8, the initiative passed in 2008 which banned same-sex marriages statewide. While many hailed this as a victory for LGBT rights, it was essentially a non-ruling, giving the case back to the state’s court, which had already ruled that Prop. 8 violated the 14th amendment.
But for a non-ruling, it seems to have had a huge impact on Santa Cruz. With same-sex marriages being performed only in the last five weeks since the court decision, Santa Cruz County saw a 62 percent increase in the number of marriages compared to July of last year.
Of course, there could be other factors, such as an improved economy, contributing to the increase, and the Santa Cruz County Records Department does not keep statistics on the gender of couples filing for marriage.
However, for comparison’s sake, there was a decrease in marriages of 14 percent countywide in June of this year compared to last.
Santa Cruz County Clerk Gail Pellerin says that on July 1, the first day same-sex marriage was legal here after the Supreme Court decision, the first couple to get married in Santa Cruz County were a same-sex couple from San Benito County.
“We’ve definitely seen an increase in marriages and I’m sure it’s helping the economy, too,” says Pellerin.
County Clerk Katherine Wolf agrees.
“Normally we perform three ceremonies a day,” she says. “But there’s definitely been more in the last month, sometimes six a day.”
It’s not just new couples that have been affected here. Because Soquel residents Grace and Alexis Coulson were married before Prop. 8 was passed. They were one of many couples that fell into a gray area—knowing they were legally married, but constantly wondering if a court-appointed expiration date was around the corner.
“You know what I remember, very clearly, about that?” asks Grace, reminiscing about election night of 2008. “I knew it was going to pass because of the political environment, but it was watching [my wife] and my daughter sob that broke my heart.”
“I just remember being confused every time it came up in the news,” Alexis recalls. “I’d have to ask, ‘What does that mean for me? Are we still married?’”
According to the last federal census in 2010, while California does not have the highest percentage of same-sex households, it does boast the largest number in the country, roughly 125,516. And the group behind Prop. 8, ProtectMarriage, is going after them again.
Immediately after the Supreme Court handed the case back to the state, ProtectMarriage filed an appeal to the California Supreme Court, asking it to halt same sex marriages once more. They argue the original verdict in 2010 by District Court Judge Vaughan, which ruled Prop. 8 unconstitutional, should not apply statewide, but only in Alameda and Los Angeles counties, where the defendants in the suit were from.
On July 19, San Diego County Clerk Ernest J. Dronenburg Jr. filed a stay on issuing same-sex marriage licenses until the California Supreme Court has made a ruling on the current Prop 8 court case. However, Dronenburg decided to drop the case on August 3, paving the way for ProtectMarriage’s appeal to be heard this week.
Until that decision is made, Santa Cruz County will continue issuing marriage licenses and performing ceremonies.
“I’m an official that upholds the law,” Pellerin emphatically states. “So when a court or my county council tells me I need to stop or start doing something, I do. In this case, it was something I supported and am happy to offer. The world has not come to an end, and I think it’s a better place for it.”
The Coulsons, who will celebrate their five-year anniversary in October, couldn’t agree more.
“It’s ridiculous to think there are people out there who believe what we did doesn’t count,” says Grace. “If it had been legal five years ago, it would be even more ‘normal’ right now.”
