you do, i don't

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that a lower court judge correctly interpreted the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court precedents when he declared in 2010 that Proposition 8 — a response to an earlier state court decision that legalized gay marriage — was a violation of the civil rights of gays and lesbians.

However, the appeals court said gay marriages cannot resume in the state until the deadline passes for Proposition 8 sponsors to appeal to a larger panel of the 9th Circuit. If such an appeal is filed, the panel's ruling would remain on hold until it's resolved.

"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," states the opinion written by Judge Stephen Reinhardt, one of the court's most liberal judges.

And with this good news, I as a Gay man can not get married in the state of California. With the news that Prop 8 is unconstitutional, I still can not get on bended knee and ask the man I love, honor, and respect more than any other to marry me. With the announcement from the Circuit Court of Appeals stating that MY civil rights has been violated by Prop 8, it is still illegal for me to place a wedding ring on my partners hand and ask the state of California to recognize our union of marriage.

I am celebrating this momentous step in reinstating civil rights, but I am sad that more days, more weeks, more months and maybe more years may have to come and go for me to be equal to people like Newt Gingrich, David Vitter, Herman Cain, Anthony Weiner, John Ensign, Bill Clinton and John Edwards.

I hear from the LGBT leadership this is not a race but a marathon, and one small step is one more step ahead taking us from behind. I hear the joy in the words of the LGBT community that we made it this far. I hear the the congratulations from the Progressives, and Independents the Heterosexuals saying stick with it it will happen. But even with all that noise I still CAN NOT ask the man in my life who has made this life even better to marry me and become a legally recognized married couple making us equal instead of separate but equal. There was a victory today for the fair minded American, but the defeat of hate, bias and bigotry still keeps me as less than, and my life is so much more than that.