Beth Fountain, a writer and former lawyer, questioned the dense language of the decision, in which the court essentially contradicted its position from a year before.

Like Fountain, musician Lisa Noe of the band Karmic Tattoo wondered why gay marriage could be “OK one minute, then it’s not OK the next.” And Rick Boylan, president of the Pinellas chapter of Stonewall Democrats and the secretary of the state Democratic party, pointed out that, even with the setback in California, the state is still years ahead of Florida in its recognition of gay rights: “We’re still dealing with issues that are left over from Anita Bryant days.”

More interviews after the break.

Not everyone at the protest was gay; Jack Crepeau, a volunteer with Equality Florida and Stonewall and a sociology professor, had just returned from his wife’s ultrasound; they’re having their first child. Crepeau’s sign: “Only divorce hurts marriage.” And Fountain’s sign — “Am I not a citizen?” — intentionally referenced the slogan of African-American protestors during the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike in 1968:  “I am a man.”

Ellen and Portia can stay married, says the court. The rest of you gays? Maybe not.

Today’s decision by the California Supreme Court upholds Proposition 8, the ballot measure that amended the state constitution to limit marriage to heterosexual couples. But the court let stand the marriages that took place between May 4, 2008, when the same judicial body said it could see no constitutional excuse for banning gay marriage, and Nov. 4, 2008, when 52 percent of voters replied, “OK, we’ll give you a constitutional reason, you activist judges you!”

That said, the thousands of gay men and lesbians who married successfully within the six-month span — among them Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi and Wanda Sykes — form a powerful bloc of interested parties who could play a huge role in getting a counter-initiative off the ground.

Protests against the court’s decision are already underway in California and several are planned locally.

The study by two professors found:

That after taking into account the effect of religious service attendance, support for Proposition 8 among African Americans and Latinos was not significantly different than other groups. Through a precinct-by-precinct analysis and review of multiple other sources of data, the study also puts African-American support for Proposition 8 at no more than 59 percent, nowhere close to the 70 percent reported the night of the election. Finally, the study shows how support for marriage equality has grown substantially across almost all California demographic groups — except Republicans.

What drove the vote? Party ID, religious attendance rates and ideology, not race or ethnicity:

• The two most important characteristics determining the vote were party identification and ideology.
  Those self describing as Democrats or Liberals, overwhelmingly opposed Prop 8. Those self describing as Republicans or Conservatives, overwhelmingly supported California Proposition 8.

• The third most important characteristic determining the vote was religiosity.
  Those attending religious services every week, supported Prop 8 by 70% while those attending once a month opposed it by 52% and those hardly ever attending opposed it by 70%.

• The fourth most important characteristic determining the vote was age.
  All the ages groups opposed Prop 8, except for those 65+ who supported it by 67%.
  As importantly, when compared to another marriage initiative in California in 2000 (the Knight initiative), all age groups increased their support of same sex marriage equality in 2008—except for those 65 years of age or older.

• African Americans and Latinos supported Prop 8 by 58 and 59% respectively—not 70% plus as reported in an exit poll on November 4, 2008.
  Furthermore, their vote correlates more with religiosity than race.

• Contrary to popular belief, knowing an LGBT person was not a significant factor in opposing California Proposition 8.