The California
supreme court today ruled that lesbian and gay couples are
entitled to the right to marry in California and that not
allowing them to do so violates the state's
Constitution.
In a 4-3
decision, drafted by Chief Justice Ronald George, the court
stated, "In light of the fundamental nature of the
substantive rights embodied in the right to marry
-- and their central importance to an
individual's opportunity to live a happy, meaningful,
and satisfying life as a full member of society
-- the California Constitution properly must be
interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all
individuals and couples, without regard to their
sexual orientation."
The court added:
"Furthermore, in contrast to earlier times, our state
now recognizes that an individual's capacity to
establish a loving and long-term committed
relationship with another person and responsibly to
care for and raise children does not depend upon the
individual's sexual orientation, and, more
generally, that an individual's sexual orientation
-- like a person's race or gender -- does
not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny
or withhold legal rights. We therefore conclude that
in view of the substance and significance of the fundamental
constitutional right to form a family relationship, the
California Constitution properly must be interpreted
to guarantee this basic civil right to all
Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex
couples as well as to opposite-sex couples."
The widely
awaited ruling (available in full at www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/supreme)
was greeted with cheers in San Francisco, where plaintiffs,
legal experts, and politicians gathered to discuss the
court's decision.
"We
won!" exclaimed NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendall,
with tears in her eyes, before a throng of supporters
gathered in the rotunda of San Francisco's City
Hall. "And there is not one lesbian, gay, bisexual or
transgender person in this country who is not better off
because we won."
Mayor Gavin
Newsom was greeted with thunderous applause when he entered
City Hall to join a celebratory press conference.
"This day is about real people and their
lives," he said. "This is about Phyllis Lyon
and Del Martin. It's about civil rights.
It's about time! And as California goes, so
goes the rest of the country!"
In an exclusive
interview with The Advocate, Newsom joked that he
told Lyon and Martin "not to get into a fight. We
need you. My ideal is to have them be the first couple
in the city to be married."
It was four years
ago that Mayor Newsom re-lit the fuse under the gay
marriage debate when he announced that the City of San
Francisco would permit same-sex couples to marry. Lyon
and Martin were his first customers. More than 4,000
couples eventually would be married in San Francisco
between February 12 and March 11, when the supreme court
ordered the marriages to come to a halt.
Five months
later, the court nullified the marriages and sent the
question of whether same-sex marriage was unconstitutional
to the lower courts. In March 2005, a San Francisco
Superior court judge ruled the law unconstitutional.
In October 2006, the state appeals court, in a 2-1
ruling, overturned that ruling when it decided that
California State did have the right to limit marriages
to heterosexual couples. That decision was appealed by
the City of San Francisco and gay rights groups, a move
that led to today's dramatic decision.
The ruling came
72 days after the court heard oral arguments on March 4
about the meaning and significance of marriage and whether
barring same-sex couples from marrying violated their
right to fair and equal treatment.
The marriages
that took place in San Francisco in 2004 will not be
recognized by the court's current decision.
"Those marriages remain a historic civil rights
moment," said Therese Stewart, chief deputy city
attorney of San Francisco, who argued the case before the
court on behalf of the City and County of San
Francisco. "And if those couples do decide to
marry again, their marriage will take effect from the day
their new marriage license is issued."
When gay men and
lesbians can actually begin to start marrying has not
yet been determined. As NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter,
who argued the case before the court, explained,
"The Supreme Court has directed the lower court
to take action on its decision. When the marriages can
happen is a practical matter, as the court will need
to create a mechanism for this to occur." But,
Minter added, he expects it to happen "very
shortly."
The
court's decision also means that same-sex couples who
were married in Massachusetts, Canada, or any other
countries that allow same-sex marriage would have
their marriages recognized in California.
Gay rights
advocates repeatedly underscored the bravery the court
showed in its decision. "In an era when courts
are under attack," said Stewart, "our
court has remained true to its history. This took a lot of
courage, and the court is going to be criticized by
some for this decision."
As they
celebrated their victory, gay rights leaders also
acknowledged that the fight is not yet over.
Conservative organizations in California have
submitted signatures to put an initiative on the November
ballot to change the state Constitution so that it
explicitly bans same-sex marriage. Because it is a
constitutional amendment, passage of this initiative
would, theoretically, trump today's court ruling.
However, in a conference call with reporters, both
Minter and Stewart said it was not yet clear what
would happen if that initiative passes.
Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger, who announced that "he respects the
Court's decision" and "will uphold its
ruling," also said that he "will not
support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn
the Supreme Court ruling."
"It would
be a profound setback if it was successful," Newsom
told The Advocate. "It would also be
pretty damning that Californians would allow the state
to write discrimination into the constitution after this
court decision. I just think California is a better state
than that."
Besides, said
Newsom, who was glued to his television this morning to
hear the court's decision, we've got momentum
on our side. "With this decision comes a new
reality and it will be advanced, we hope, in 60 days
with tens of thousand of couples getting married in between
now and November," he said. "They will
be people's brothers and sisters and aunts and
uncles and parents and kids. It's going to be the guy
who runs the corner store, the young lady who owns the
restaurant down the block, the person serving coffee
or dropping off the mail. There will be police
officers and fire fighters and friends and neighbors. And
then after they experience that joy all around them,
people will be asked in November to take all of that
away, to say to all of those families that you just
don't matter and what you have can be taken away."
He added that
he's confident California voters won't do
that. "With this ruling, it's now
different," he said. "Before, they weren't
taking anything away. They were just continuing to
deny. But now they are going to be taking away a
right, and that's different than what's in the voter
pamphlet right now."