A federal court has upheld a ruling by Chief Judge Vaughn Walker to strike down Proposition 8, the same-sex marriage ban in California.
Proponents for the same-sex marriage ban argued that Walker should have removed himself from the case because he had a personal interest in the outcome. Walker, who retired earlier this year, came out as gay in April.
According to a press release from Lambda Legal, Chief U.S. District Judge James Ware said that Walker's sexuality did not require him to take himself off the case.
Windy City Times asked some members of Chicago's LGBT community for their reactions to the ruling:
—Dietzler, Join the Impact-Chicago: "The idea that Judge Walker should have been disqualified from ruling on Prop 8 because of his sexual orientation is absolutely absurd. This just proves that proponents of Prop. 8 know they are losing and are grasping at anything they can."
—John Knight, director of the ACLU of Illinois LGBT & AIDS Project: "Chief Judge Ware carefully considered the arguments for recusal and correctly rejected them. One of the most important reasons he offered is that the general benefit the entire nation reaps from the enforcement of our Constitution and from overcoming restrictions on our fundamental rights, such as the right to marry, easily overcomes any speculation about whether Judge Walker might benefit in the future from the ability to marry. As the court put it, "we all have an equal stake in a case that challenges the constitutionality of a restriction on a fundamental right."
—Rosa Yadira Ortiz, president of Amigas Latinas: "I agree with Chief Judge Ware's ruling that one should not presume that judges are incapable of making impartial decisions in cases where they, like members of the general society, may be affected. It is disappointing that assumptions of partiality—based on factors such as gender, sexuality and race—continue to persist. LGBTQ professionals rightfully expect to be critiqued based on the merits of their work and qualifications, not on who they are."
—Modesto "Tico" Valle, CEO of Center on Halsted: "We applaud Judge Ware's ruling on [June 14] refusing to vacate Judge Vaughn Walker's decision declaring Prop 8 unconstitutional. To suggest that because Walker is gay he cannot rule on the laws impacting the LGBTQ community is very unjust. At their best, our judges do not exist to endorse the majority's whims; they exist to protect minority rights.
"This is why diversity among judges is so important: We need diversity among judges to ensure that all of our laws are treating all people fairly, all of the time. Ware also rightly concluded that—even if Judge Walker stands to be impacted by overturning Prop 8—does not necessarily mean he was biased when evaluating the arguments of Prop 8's attorneys. Walker called these arguments for what they are: unfair and fundamentally flawed."
—Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois: "I am pleased with this ruling. To force a judge to recuse himself only because he happens to be gay is ridiculous. I'm glad that reason prevailed today."
—Anthony Martinez, executive director of The Civil Rights Agenda: "Chief Judge Ware's ruling was appropriate, and I think for most people following the Prop 8 trial an expected one. Prop 8 proponents know they are on the losing side of history and failed to prove the validity of their argument. This was a desperate attempt. Prop 8 is unconstitutional and that is the bottom line."
—Camilla Taylor, marriage project director of Lambda Legal: "We were glad to hear of the ruling but we weren't surprised. It was ludicrous to suggest that a judge should be disqualified just because he was in a relationship with a man for ten years. We don't suggest that a divorce judge should be disqualified just because he's happily married."
