Oakland and Berkeley City Councils Urge Alameda County To Allow Same-Sex Marriages

California law limits marriage in the state to one man and one woman. It was signed into law in 1973 by then-Gov. Jerry Brown.
Brown is now mayor of Oakland.
Meanwhile, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer plans to go to the state's Supreme Court Friday, where he will ask the court to decide the issue of gay marriage.
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OAKLAND -- The Oakland City Council waded into the national debate over same-sex marriage Thursday and is expected to urge the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to allow gay and lesbian couples to be married by the county clerk's office.
Sponsored by Councilmembers Danny Wan (Grand Lake-Chinatown), Jean Quan (Montclair-Laurel) and Nancy Nadel (Downtown-West Oakland), the resolution calls on the county recorder to begin issuing licenses to same-sex couples.
"Civil marriage should be about equal rights under the law," said Wan, the council's only gay member.
Oakland city officials have been under an increasing amount of pressure to follow San Francisco's lead and defy state law by allowing same-sex couples to wed. However, since only counties issue marriage licenses, the ball is in Alameda County's court.
"It's unfortunate that we can't issue the licenses ourselves, but I want to move this issue forward," Wan said.
The resolution is expected to be approved by the council on March 16.
Berkeley adopted a similar resolution on Feb. 17, calling on California to stop discriminating against lesbian, gay and transgender people.
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Unlike San Francisco, which is both a city and a county, Oakland and Berkeley can't issue marriage licenses or sanction weddings, authority the state invests in counties only. The two East Bay cities are located in Alameda County.
"It's unfortunate that we can't issue the licenses ourselves, but I want to move this issue forward," said Danny Wan, the only gay member of the Oakland City Council. Wan co-sponsored the resolution along with council members Jean Quan and Nancy Nadel.
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