Four civil rights
groups filed briefs with the California supreme court
last week, arguing that the state violates its own
constitution by denying same-sex couples the right to
marry. The American Civil Liberties Union, Equality
California, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and
Lambda Legal filed the briefs for the coordinated marriage
cases now before the court in response to the
state's defense of the discriminatory law.
Appellants in
earlier cases asserted that same-sex couples do not have
the right to marry under due process of the law because
marriage, by definition, is between a man and a woman.
The brief argues that the state's prohibition
of same-sex marriage infringes on basic rights and
discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation and gender.
Another argument
that the brief counters is the presumption that marriage
is intended for procreation. However, the groups state that
the elderly, infertile people, or those who cannot
procreate have the right to marry as long as they are
heterosexual, but gays and lesbians do not.
The court agreed
to hear the case in 2006 after the state's court of
appeal reversed a decision by a San Francisco superior court
judge who ruled that banning same-sex marriage was
unconstitutional.
Lambda Legal
senior counsel Jennifer Pizer said in a statement that
anything less than marriage is a "confusing twilight
zone" for gay and lesbian couples. "We
know this because we answer the distress calls every
day--calls that began with the first statewide
domestic partner bill in 1999 and haven't
slowed as the law broadened over the years. To the
contrary, the distress calls have increased as more couples
register, hoping to shield their families, and
encounter inconsistent, incomplete protections.
We've welcomed the supreme court's invitation
to explain how far domestic partnerships fall short of
full marriage."
"By design," the
brief reads, "domestic partnership is a functional
status for providing legal benefits to same-sex couples
while withholding the unique government approbation
and support conveyed by marriage. Predictably, this
creates a barrier that makes it difficult for others
to understand, to respect, or to see lesbian and gay men's
committed relationships as similar to their own. As the
court of appeal rightly observed [in Knight v.
Superior Court, 2005], 'the legislature has
not...granted domestic partners the same statutes as
marries spouses.'"
Equality
California executive director Geoff Kors also said that
marriage helps to validate relationships. "We have
already learned that domestic partnerships and civil
unions cannot replace the critical legal protections,
universal recognition, and dignity that marriage
affords," he said. "Excluding same-sex couples from marriage
denies countless couples legal recognition of the love they
share."
More than 250
religious and civil rights organizations will also file
amicus briefs in support of same-sex marriage on September
17; some include the National Black Justice Coalition,
the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, and the
California Council of Churches. (The Advocate)
