SAN FRANCISCO
Marriage case sent to top state court
- Bob Egelko
Tuesday, November 14, 2006

The city of San Francisco appealed to the state Supreme Court on Monday to review the constitutionality of California's ban on same-sex marriage and rule that the law violates the rights of gays and lesbians.

"This is the major civil rights issue of our time. And this court should have the final word,'' City Attorney Dennis Herrera's office said in papers filed with the court. Lawyers for same-sex couples, who separately challenged the marriage law, plan to file their petition today.

The city has been involved in the dispute since February 2004, when Mayor Gavin Newsom authorized the city clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, despite a state law defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. The state's high court ordered a halt after a month, then voided the nearly 4,000 marriages in an August 2004 ruling that said Newsom had exceeded his authority but did not resolve the law's validity.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer then ruled in March 2005 that the marriage law discriminated on the basis of sex and violated the fundamental right to marry the partner of one's choice. The First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco disagreed last month, ruling that the state was entitled to preserve the traditional definition of marriage while granting substantially equal rights to same-sex couples registered as domestic partners.

The state Supreme Court has 90 days to decide whether to accept the case for review.

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URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/11/14/BAG4JMC3DQ1.DTL