Same-Sex Debate Heads Back to San Francisco
The same-sex marriage debate will head back to San Francisco on Wednesday as homosexual couples and gay advocacy groups take another shot at California marriage laws.
SAN FRANCISCO – The same-sex marriage debate will head back to San Francisco on Wednesday as homosexual couples and gay advocacy groups take another shot at California marriage laws.
In 2000, voters in the Golden State passed a golden rule on marriage: it is only between a man and a woman. But now about a dozen homosexual couples now want that statue declared unconstitutional and will argue before Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer in a consolidated case on Wednesday.
The opening arguments come ten months after San Francisco Gavin Newsom allowed the issuance of some 4,000 same-sex “marriage” licenses. Several groups such as Liberty Counsel, representing Campaign for California Families, filed suits in lower courts protesting the same-sex marriages. But it wasn't until Alliance Defense Fund and Ca. Attorney General Bill Lockyer took the case up to the California Supreme Court that the same-sex marriages were halted. In August, the California Supreme Court ruled that Newsom had overstepped his powers and invalidated the same-sex “marriage” licenses.
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This time around, Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund, represented by Alliance Defense Fund, Ca. Attorney General Bill Lockyer, and Liberty Counsel will all join together in defending California-initiative Prop. 22 in the consolidated cases.
If Kramer does decide in favor of the homosexual couples, California would join Massachusetts in being the only two states in the county to recognize same-sex marriage. While Vermont is the only state that allows gay civil unions, a Sacramento judge has allowed domestic partnership benefits which will take effect on Jan. 1, 2005.
In the nation, thirty-seven states have Defense of Marriage Acts to define marriage between a man and a woman and protect them from being forced to recognize gay marriage sanctioned in other states. However, this year, thirteen states passed amendments elevating the statute to a constitutional level including the eleven states which passed pro-traditional marriage initiatives on Nov. 2, Election Day.
Lawmakers in California have also considered the prospect of codifying the definition as stated in Prop. 22 to the state Constitution. Mark Leno, a California Assemblyman introduced on Dec. 6 a bill that would allow marriage for any two persons regardless of gender. On the same day, Senator Bill Morrow and California Assemblyman Ray Haynes introduced a counter amendment, “Religious Freedom and California Civil Marriage Protection Act," on behalf of conservative Traditional Values Coalition, that would write the traditional definition of marriage into the Constitution and also strike down the state’s law for domestic partnership benefits.
The same-sex marriage debate is also being waged in other states around the nation. In New York, nine challenges to marriage laws have been filed. In two cases, two judges have decided that gay couples do not have a fundamental right to marry. Two judges in Washington disagreed. Connecticut, Nebraska, New Jersey and Oregon courts are also hearing challenges to marriage laws or suits seeking for same-sex marriage.
Correction: The original article said Liberty Counsel was funded by Alliance Defense Fund. Liberty Counsel is an independent Christian legal advocacy organization.
The original article also stated Liberty Counsel won the suit in the Ca. Supreme Court. Alliance Defense Fund filed the suit in the Ca. Supreme Court.
