Bay.
How do you feel about the fact gays feel their cause is more important than the will of the majority of people in the largest state in the country?
Serious question bro.
The Constitution and the principles laid out in it (specifically the 14 Amendment containing the equal protection clause) trumps “the will of the majority of people.” Remember, democracy is specifically designed to protect against “the tyranny of the majority.” That phrase goes all the way back to the days of Thomas Jefferson.
Jefferson understood very well that large numbers of people may easily be manipulated (for example by a slick talker, by advertisements, by religion, by dreams, by bigotry, by fear and other irrational impulses) into doing things, believing things, supporting actions, or passing laws that are hopelessly misguided. Simply because a majority of people believe we should do X does not mean that X is necessarily the right thing to do. History is filled with examples of large numbers of people (even a majority) being manipulated into doing something stupid or illegal. For example, the trauma of 9/11 and stoked fears of a mushroom cloud duped the USA into invading Iraq. 500 hundred billions of dollars and thousands of lives later, virtually every one now realizes that was a terrible mistake.
The idea that citizens should be treated equally is inscribed into the Constitution. Capricious public opinion—no matter how big the majority—cannot circumvent that. The judiciary was specifically created to ensure this. One of the great (and perhaps terrible) things about the principle of equality is that when legitimately applied, it will necessarily be applied to people who you may not want to have it. Too bad; either everyone has it or no one has it.
There have always been opponents of equality. When we look back in time at the people who opposed equal treatment under the law for various groups (blacks, women, Jews, the disabled, and on and on) we often ask ourselves, “who were those idiots and why were they so hopelessly ignorant?”
Look around you: those people are still here!
If you could place a sample of the opponents of gay marriage into a time machine and deposit them in into 1860 what side of the abolition of slavery do you think they would be on? If you could deposit them into 1918 what side of women’s suffrage do you think they would be on? Legacy admissions (where if your parents or grandparents attended a school you would get favorable treatment when you applied) are still common at American universities. Did you know that legacy admission policies were originally designed to keep Jews out of the best colleges? If we take that time machine back to say 1900, the people who support Proposition 8 today would be the same people in favor of legacy admissions. They want to reserve benefits for themselves that other people do not have access to.
Over the years, these opponents have used fear, religion, pseudo-science, legitimate science, racism, sexism, jingoism, and other filters to explain why “those people” should not be treated equally. As I said, there have always been opponents of equality. Even if those opponents constitute a majority, their will does not supersede the Constitution or the Justices that police it.
The Constitution was here long before you (and your filters) came along; and it will be here long after you (and your filters) are gone.