Landmark Gay Marriage Vote in California

Landmark Gay Marriage Vote In Calif.
by Mark Worrall
365Gay.com Newscenter



Posted: April 20, 2004 3:14 p.m. ET

(Sacramento, California) For the first time in US history, a state legislative body has voted in favor of issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

The Judiciary Committee of the California State Assembly Tuesday voted 8 to 3 to approve the bill after less than a hour of debate. It now moves on to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

"I saw in the eight aye votes a great pride in the fact that people were standing up for civil rights - not special privileges, but civil rights," said Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), the gay legislator who wrote the legislation.

The bill would amend the state family code to define marriage as between "two persons" instead of between and man and a woman.

Assemblywoman Pat Bates (R-Laguna Niguel), who voted against the measure said that the issue of same-sex marriage should be decided by the courts before it is taken up by the legislature.

But backers of the bill argued that the Legislature was within its rights to act now.

"I think it is important to note that we as the Legislature have the ability to make the laws, and in fact I do believe that it is definitely within our jurisdiction to define what is marriage," said Assemblywoman Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro) the committee chairperson.

The outcome of the vote was far from certain when the committee convened this morning. Five of the committee members are co-authors of the legislation, but two additional members who have strong voter records on LGBT had taken a position on the bill.

Yesterday, more than 40 church leaders who support same-sex marriage lobbied legislators on behalf of the bill. (story)

Gay rights activists were overjoyed with the outcome, but stressed committee support does not necessarily equate into a guarantee the measure will pass the legislature.

"While this is an important victory, we have several hurdles to overcome before this bill becomes law. And we will need each and every one of you to help bring us closer to our dream of marriage equality," said Geoffrey Kors, the Executive Director of Equality California.

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