Barring a stay of
a historic California supreme court ruling, same-sex
couples will be able to wed in the state beginning June 17,
according to a state directive issued Wednesday.
The state said it
chose June 17 because the state supreme court has until
the day before to decide whether to grant a stay of its May
15 ruling legalizing gay marriage.
Gay rights
advocates and some clerks initially thought couples would be
able to wed as early as Saturday, June 14. The court's
decisions typically take effect 30 days after they are
made.
The guidelines
from Mark Horton, director of the California Department of
Public Health, to the state's 58 county clerks also
contained copies of new marriage forms that include
lines for ''Party A'' and ''Party B'' instead of
"bride" and "groom." The gender-neutral nomenclature
was developed in consultation with county clerks, according
to the letter.
''Effective June
17, 2008, only the enclosed new forms may be issued for
the issuance of marriage licenses in California,'' the
directive reads.
A group opposed
to gay marriage has asked the court to stay its decision
until after the November election, when voters are likely to
face a ballot initiative that could once again define
marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Passage
of the initiative would overrule the supreme court.
Under the supreme
court's regular rules of procedure, justices have until
the end of the day June 16 to rule on the stay request,
according to the memo sent by e-mail to county clerks.
Lawyers involved in the marriage case have said
previously the court could grant itself an extra 60 days
to consider the stay.
A poll released
Wednesday found that for the first time, about half of
California voters support same-sex marriage.
The Field Poll
found that 51% of respondents backed legalizing same-sex
marriage and 42% opposed it. A 2006 poll found that 44%
supported same-sex marriage and 50% objected; in 1977,
the first year Field posted the question to California
voters, only 28% were in favor.
''I would say
this is a historic turning point or milestone,'' poll
director Mark DiCamillo said. ''We have speculated in the
past there would be some time in the future when a
majority would support same-sex marriage. Well, the
lines have crossed.''
The survey of
1,052 registered voters was conducted over the phone from
May 17 to May 26 and had a sampling error of plus or minus
3.2 percentage points.
The poll's
findings conflict with a Los Angeles Times/KTLA poll
of 705 voters released last week that found 54% backed
the proposed gay marriage ban and 35% opposed it.
Andrew Pugno,
legal adviser for the coalition of religious and social
conservative groups sponsoring the measure, said the
Times poll is more consistent with his group's
internal polling.
''We could
acknowledge there has been increasing acceptance of the idea
of gay relationships over the last 10 or 20 years, but we
think when it comes to marriage there is still a solid
majority who want to see it reserved for a man and a
woman, and that is all this initiative is about,''
Pugno said. (Lisa Leff, AP)