BY BREANA JONES

ANCHOR LAUREN GORES

 

For better … or for worse. A California gay couple’s pioneering marriage has taken a turn for the latter. KNBC has the details.

 

“Robin tells me the reason for their split are not all that unfamiliar to any couple parting ways, but she’s quick to add this fight for marriage equality was never about a legal guarantee to happily ever after …”

 

Robin Tyler and Diane Olson were first in line in LA when same sex marriage was made legal in 2008. Four months later, voters passed Prop 8. Now, Prop 8 has been deemed unconstitutional by a U.S. Appeals Court. When asked what their failed union means for the movement, Tyler had this to say …

 

“People say to me, ‘You were like the poster women for gay marriage’. Well, Rosa Parks was the poster child for riding on a bus, but she didn't spend the rest of her life riding buses.”

 

The split brings to light another gay-rights issue -- the right to get divorced. As NPR explains, many same-sex couples are left with little options after a break-up.

 

“Even in states that do recognize gay marriage, gay divorce can still be a legal mess because gay marriages aren't recognized by the federal government — or the IRS. For example, alimony payments are usually tax-free. But … the IRS has no guidelines on what to do if you are a gay divorcee.”

 

As for the fate of Prop 8, Bill O’Reilly and a legal analyst discussed it on Fox News Tuesday night.

 

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE- “This is gonna be appealed, it will go en banc to the entire circuit court.”
O’REILLY- “But they’ll rule the same way in the Ninth Circuit.”
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE- “They will rule the same way, and then it’ll go to the US Supreme Court.”
O’Reilly- “But isn’t this judicial activism? That’s what it is.”

 

But the LA Times says the language of the ruling means it may prevent the case from getting to the Supreme Court.

 

 

“… the 9th Circuit might have the final word on Proposition 8 because the ruling was so pointedly limited to California, a state where ... voters stripped a minority of a right that already existed and where the usual justifications for a same-sex marriage ban -- responsible parenting and procreation -- are undercut by domestic partner laws.”