Newsom takes Bloomberg to task on gay marriage

San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom accused New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg of being inconsistent when he said he personally supports same-sex marriage but is challenging a court decision allowing it. "I think if you believe something, you've got to act on it," Newsom said at a news conference Thursday. "If you don't believe in it, don't act on it. But don't say you believe something and then do everything to stifle that belief." New York is among the few states without laws explicitly defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, making it an important venue in the gay-marriage debate. Ruling last week in the case of five gay couples who were denied city marriage licenses, a New York state judge found the state's ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional. Afterward, in his first remarks about his own feelings on same-sex marriage, Bloomberg said, "My personal opinion is that anybody should be allowed to marry anybody. I don't happen to think we should put restrictions on who you should marry." But Bloomberg, a Republican, also said that the city would appeal the decision to get a definitive court ruling and avoid the "chaos" that occurred in San Francisco last year after nearly 4,000 gay couples who tied the knot with City Hall's blessing later saw their marriages declared invalid by the California supreme court. Newsom challenged Bloomberg's description of what happened in San Francisco. "Where was the chaos in this city? It's just wrong to say that," Newsom said. Bloomberg's office did not return a call Friday seeking a reply to Newsom's comments. (AP)