Gay marriage gains legislative momentum
By Deb Price, The Detroit News from the Web, December 6, 2004
"Marriage." Why fight over a word if extending rights to gay couples in another way would cause less of a ruckus?
The question wasn't being mulled by a fair-minded heterosexual but by a gay San Francisco lawmaker.
And the answer came to California Assemblyman Mark Leno not in a heartfelt outpouring from a gay couple but in level-headed declarations by a court on the other side of the country.
"The Massachusetts Constitution affirms the dignity and equality of all individuals.
It forbids the creation of second-class citizens," the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled Nov. 18, 2003.
By forbidding gay couples to marry, the state "confers an official stamp of approval on the destructive stereotype that same-sex relationships are inherently unstable and inferior to opposite-sex relationships and are not worthy of respect," the court continued.
"The marriage ban," it stressed, scars gay people "for no rational reason."
That powerful indictment transformed Leno: "The justices were saying that the ability to love is our common humanity.
That struck me to the core. I will not let someone define me as loving in a second-class fashion.
When they put it like that, I was ready to fight a war over a word."
Less than three months later, he introduced the California Marriage License Nondiscrimination Act to make the state's marriage law gender-neutral so two adult "persons" could wed.
The bill gained respect the same day, Feb. 12, when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom coincidentally stopped complying with the state's unjust marriage law:
More than 4,000 gay couples received marriage licenses. Leno officiated at 100 weddings, including that of his rabbi and her partner.
"The world changed after Newsom," Leno says.
Though California's top court invalidated those marriages, saying Newsom had overreached, Leno remains a visible cheerleader for ending marriage discrimination.
His marriage bill became the first in the nation to pass a committee. And his resolution opposing President George W. Bush's call to amend the U.S. Constitution to end states' historic right to define marriage passed the California Assembly -- another first.
As he prepares to kick off a new session by reintroducing his marriage bill today, Leno has further proof that protections short of marriage can vanish in a heartbeat:
Michigan had planned to offer partners of gay state workers health benefits beginning Oct. 1, 2005.
But after voters approved a constitutional amendment barring recognition of gay marriages or "similar unions for any purpose," Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who supports the benefits and opposed the amendment, decided to cancel the benefits unless a court declares them lawful.
Luckily, California is among the states going forward in its treatment of those of us who're gay.
Leno's marriage bill is now co-authored by the Assembly's speaker -- who'll give it priority -- and has the blessing of the new state Senate president.
California's political climate has improved so much that Leno is confident he has the needed votes.
His hope: Within a year his state will become the first where gays can wed because of legislative -- not court -- action.
"Having a legislature open up marriage to gay couples would put a stake through the activist judges' argument," Leno notes.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he doesn't oppose gay marriage if his state wants it.
Leno hopes that if the people's elected representatives vote to end gay couples' exclusion from marriage, the popular Republican governor will sign the bill into law.
What's in a word? Everything. Just ask the Michigan gay families whose promised health insurance evaporated because marriage is out of reach.
Contact Deb Price at dprice@detnews.com or (202) 906-8205.
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