As I said, despite my caution, Judge Walker’s decision on the stay is a nice read.

My favorite part is how he takes apart the anti-equality folks’ disingenuous plea not to harm those poor gay couples by letting them getting married under a cloud of uncertainty (how nice of them to show concern for gay couples when they’ve spent years demonstrating they don’t care about us at all):

Proponents also point to harm resulting from “a cloud of uncertainty” surrounding the validity of marriages performed after judgment is entered but before proponents’ appeal is resolved…. Proponents have not, however, alleged that any of them seek to wed a same-sex spouse. Proponents admit that the harms they identify would be inflicted on “affected couples and * * * the State.” … [T]he court considers only whether the party seeking a stay faces harm, yet proponents do not identify a harm to them that would result from denial of their motion to stay.

. . .

If proponents had identified a harm they would face if the stay were not granted, the court would be able to consider how much weight to give [this] factor. Because proponents make no argument that they — as opposed to the state defendants or plaintiffs — will be irreparably injured absent a stay, proponents have not given the court any basis to exercise its discretion to grant a stay.

Boom.

Since the state government of California has decided to sit this thing out, there’s basically nobody defending Prop 8 except the anti-equality people. This also shows how crucial it is that the state government is choosing not to defend Prop 8. If only the Obama administration would do the same thing on the federal level.