With gay people in California marrying each other in great numbers this week, gay people have to wonder what will happen in November when the gay issue goes on the ballot. If the voters seek a law banning gay marriage in California, how will that affect the legal status of gay people getting married this week as well as those getting married until a possible change of the law? And if a new law prohibits gay marriage, will the current legal marriages be annulled? (At Right: Two newly wed gay men in California)

This vote will come in the same election when Californians will be voting on the next US President. The Californian Republicans have traditionally voted against gay marriage, and their Republican governor has refused twice to sign a gay marriage bill into law that was passed twice by the California State Legislature.

Party turn out in November may determine, not only their presidential choice but also the future of gay marriage in the country's most populated state. You can bet in California this will be an especially big, nasty, and confusing election.

60% of gay people polled recently said that they believe gay marriage will win the day in November. To date no such poll has been taken among straight people.

As I have previously pointed out, the emphasis here should not be on gay marriage, but rather on gay civil marriage. The State should allow marriage contacts between people regardless of sex. Once those contracts are legally acknowledged, the couple can get married in any church that agrees to marry gay people. Pushing for gay marriage contracts is not an attempt to force churches to acknowledge and marry gay people. Those churches against marrying gay couples will still have the option of saying no. Why is this legal concept so hard to comprehend? Because most religious groups do not really like or accept that part of the US Constitution that spells out the separation of Church and State. The struggle for gay marriages must be kept out of the churches and in the city halls, instead. It is a political, not a religious issue.