Clerk Withdraws Bid to Resurrect the Horrible Prop. 8 Zombie

A small potential obstacle between same-sex couples and a lifetime of marital bliss in the California sunshine ended was removed on Friday when a San Diego clerk announced that he would withdraw his legal bid to revive Proposition 8.

You’ll remember that way back in June the Supreme Court issued an underwhelming ruling about California’s ban on same-sex marriage, essentially saying that the group defending Prop. 8 had no legal right to do so. The state could no longer deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples, in spite of all the grumbling from groups like ProtectMarriage.

On Friday, San Diego County Clerk Ernie Dronenburg said he was withdrawing his bid to reinstitute Prop. 8 because it “duplicated efforts by the sponsors of the marriage ban.” The sponsors of Prop. 8 — ProtectMarriage — have argued that the state has no right to force county clerks such as Dronenburg to marry same-sex couples, and that a federal judge’s 2010 ruling to stop county clerks from enforcing Prop. 8 (left in place after the Supreme Court ruling) was not binding statewide. Dronenburg’s bid to revive Prop. 8, however, failed to gain traction among other county clerks, and earned him derision of pretty much everyone who values marriage equality in California.