Gay rights measure
defeated
STATE ASSEMBLY
REJECTS LEGISLATION TO LEGALIZE
SAME-SEX MARRIAGES
By Dion Nissenbaum,
mercurynews.com from the Web, June 2, 2005
SACRAMENTO -- An effort to
give gay couples the right to marry fell short in the state Assembly early today
after a small group of moderate Democrats rebuffed a measure that would have
legalized same-sex marriage in California.
Despite intense lobbying, a dozen Democrats refused to support a bill by
Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, that would have allowed tens of
thousands of same-sex partners to marry, a controversial act that would have
given the couples expanded rights to health care, Social Security, and military
benefits.
While the measure won backing from 35 Democrats, Leno could not persuade another
six lawmakers to give AB 19 the 41 votes it needed to pass. The defeat,
just after midnight, marked the second time in two years that Leno has fallen
short on the issue. But he vowed to try again as soon as today.
In often-emotional speeches, Democrats and Republicans presented diametrically
opposing views, with supporters casting the proposal as a historic stand against
discrimination and opponents denouncing it as an anti-democratic attack on moral
values.
But Leno and his supporters presented the bill as something much more
fundamental: a statement by the state Legislature that discrimination
against gay couples will not be tolerated in California.
"Unless you are willing to look me in the face and say that I am not a human
being just as you are, you have no right to deny me the access to marriage in
this state or anywhere else," said Los Angeles Democratic Assemblywoman Jackie
Goldberg, one of two lesbian lawmakers in the Legislature. She has been
with her female partner for 26 years.
But Republicans accused gay-rights advocates of trying to circumvent California
voters who approved Proposition 22, a 2000 ballot measure that barred the state
from recognizing same-sex marriages from other states.
Those who disagree with the 61 percent of voters who endorsed Proposition 22
should take their case back to the ballot, said Assemblyman Jay La Suer, a La
Mesa Republican who said the bill "has nothing to do with discrimination" and
"everything to do with the destruction of the moral fiber of this nation."
Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, R-Monrovia, echoed the sentiment of many
Republicans when he suggested that the measure was about more than expanding
marriage rights for gay couples.
"What the homosexuals in the state of California and in the United States want
is not rights, they want acceptance," said Mountjoy. "They want my children to
be told that homosexuality is OK, that it is natural. I'm here to tell you
that it is not OK and it is not natural and I will not have my children taught
that."
The bill's fate ultimately came down to a small group of moderate Democrats who
were torn between often-competing personal and political views. Five
Democrats joined 32 Republicans in opposing the bill, and seven others declined
to take a stand.
In an effort to win support from the seven undecided Democrats, Leno enlisted
the help of Arzu and Ramona Gatto, a lesbian couple from San Carlos who, along
with their 17-year-old daughter Marian, personally lobbied undecided lawmakers
outside the Assembly chambers.
One was Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, a Fremont Democrat, who was torn between
his work as a civil rights attorney and his personal religious beliefs as a
born-again Christian.
"I'm going against part of me that's been a civil rights champion all my life,"
said Torrico, who did not vote on the bill. "But it's all about what I think God
wants for us, and I can't get around that."
Gay marriage has emerged as one of the most politically charged issues of this
generation, one that has generated protests, protracted court battles and ballot
fights from Oregon to Kentucky.
President Bush has seized on the issue by calling for a constitutional amendment
to ban gay marriages. The controversy helped galvanize evangelical
Christian voters who turned out in force in November to re-elect the Republican
president.
Last year, after the Massachusetts Supreme Court cleared the way for same-sex
marriages, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom bucked California law and began
issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
The more than 4,000 marriages held at San Francisco City Hall were eventually
struck down by the California Supreme Court, which unanimously agreed that the
city had gone too far.
But earlier this spring, a San Francisco Superior Court judge issued a landmark
ruling when he concluded that California's ban on gay marriage was
unconstitutional.
The issue is likely to end up in the California Supreme Court. Meanwhile,
opponents may put a constitutional ban on gay marriage before voters next year.
Contact Dion Nissenbaum at
dnissenbaum@mercurynews.com or
(916) 441-4603.
|
