News
2006-11-15
San Francisco
appeals anti–marriage equality ruling
A month after an
appeals court ruled against same-sex marriage, the city
of San Francisco and about a dozen gay couples h
A month after an
appeals court ruled against same-sex marriage, the city
of San Francisco and about a dozen gay couples have
filed an appeal to the California supreme court.
Same-sex marriage advocates hope to overturn the
ruling that said limiting marriage to a man and a woman does
not violate the constitutional rights of gays and lesbians.
If the high court takes the case, a decision on
same-sex marriage is likely a year or more away. The
justices have 90 days to announce their intentions.
In October, the first district court of appeal
ruled in a 2–1 vote that, among other things,
it was not the judiciary's role to define marriage,
since 61% of California voters in 2000 declared marriage as
a union between a man and a woman under Proposition
22. The appeals court also ruled that the state's
existing marriage laws do not discriminate because
under the California Domestic Partnership Act same-sex
couples get most of the rights of marriage
that the state confers to heterosexual married couples.
The seven-member supreme court is not obligated
to review the appellate court's decision, which
overturned an earlier decision by a San Francisco
trial judge. If it does not, the ruling stands.
San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom put the
marriage debate in the national spotlight by allowing
same-sex couples to get married at San Francisco City
Hall in 2004. California's justices halted the wedding spree
and voided the 4,037 marriage licenses while
sidestepping the core constitutional question, ruling
the mayor did not have authority to make marriage law.
Since 2004, when Massachusetts became the first
state to legalize same-sex marriage, marriage-equality
advocates have seen California as one of their best
hopes for expanding their movement. (David Kravets, AP)
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