Gay Marriage Heads To California Court

Gay Marriage Heads To California Court
by Mary Ellen Peterson 365Gay.com San Francisco Bureau

Posted: December 20, 2004 11:02 am ET
(San Francisco, California) The long march up the legal aisle to the California Supreme Court for same-sex couples seeking to marry begins this week in San Francisco.

Lawyers for both sides in the gay marriage issue will present oral arguments Wednesday in Superior Court in San Francisco. Ultimately the state Supreme Court will decide whether California's Constitution is violated by a law barring same-sex marriage.

Last February San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom began allowing marriage licenses to be issued to same-sex couples. (story) More than 4,000 gay and lesbian couples were married before the California Supreme Court ruled that Newsom had exceeded his power in granting the licenses. (story) But, the court did not take up the issue of gay marriage itself, saying court cases challenging the constitutionality on the state law should work their way through the lower courts first.

It could take at least year before the issue comes before the justices.

The suit before Judge Richard Kramer on Wednesday combines two separate cases, one brought by the city of San Francisco and the other by gay advocacy groups representing a dozen same-sex couples.

In a legal brief submitted to the court last month the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based Christian law firm fighting the lawsuit, contends that that same-sex unions are contrary to the purpose of marriage itself: procreation. The ADF also told the court that gay marriages are damaging to children. (story)

In its response the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal, said the claim that only families headed by both a father and mother are superior amounts to gender discrimination. (story)

The State of California, defending the 1997 California state law defining marriage between a man and woman, told the court in its brief prepared for Attorney General Bill Lockyer, that laws limiting marriage do not run afoul of California's Constitution.

Law suits challenging state bans on gay unions are also underway in New York, New Jersey and Oregon.

Earlier this month in New Jersey, an appeals court was told that a law banning same-sex marriage violated the state Constitution. That case is also likely to wind up in the New Jersey Supreme Court. (story)

Last week, the Oregon Supreme Court was told Wednesday that the Oregon Constitution requires that same-sex couples receive the same legal protections as couples that get married. (story)

The suit began as a challenge to an Oregon law forbidding gay marriage, but in November, voters approved an amendment to the Oregon Constitution that bans gay marriage. Following the vote the suit was amended to argue that even with a ban on marriage the state must accord same-sex couples the same rights as couples in traditional marriages.

While the California case begins its long trek to the state Supreme Court a law granting same-sex couples nearly identical legal rights and responsibilities as married spouses goes into effect January 1.

The domestic partner law was passed by the Legislature last year and signed into law by then-Gov. Gray Davis last year (story) and a legal challenge by a conservative group was denied in September. (story)

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