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San Francisco
Chronicle
Legislature OKs same-sex marriage bill;
governor expected to
veto
Haley Davies,
sfchronicle .com from the Web. September 8, 2007
For the second time in three years,
the Legislature has approved a bill to give same-sex couples the right to marry
in California, with Friday's Senate vote split almost along party lines and Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger expected to veto the measure as he did in 2005.
The bill, AB43, is the third effort by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco,
to pass what he has termed a "gender-neutral marriage" bill. The act would
amend California's Family Code to define marriage as a civil contract between
two persons.
"Marriage is more than just a civil contract ... it is different from domestic
partners, it's just different from civil unions -- it means something," said
state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, who presented the bill and was also the
first openly gay person to be elected to the Legislature. "And because it
means something, that's why it's been denied to us."
The bill seeks to make California the second state to legalize same-sex
marriage, after Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage became legal in 2004.
Since then, some 8,000 couples have been married by the state.
Elsewhere, Belgium, Canada, Netherlands, South Africa and Spain offer full
marriage rights to gays and lesbians.
Critics of Leno's measure said Friday that California voters spoke clearly in
2000 when they approved Proposition 22, which barred recognition of same-sex
marriage in the state by defining marriage as between a man and woman only.
"We see AB43 as yet another heavy-handed, blatant attempt for Mark Leno and Co.
to skirt the current restrictions in law that prevents same-sex marriages in
California," said Benjamin Lopez, a lobbyist for the Traditional Values
Coalition, who has fought past same-sex marriage efforts.
Lopez said that if Leno's bill were signed, it would be the result of
"sympathetic liberal legislators and liberal judges who force it upon the
people," and that "the whole definition of the family will be torn asunder."
Leno began his efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in 2004, just as San
Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom approved the issuing of marriage licenses to
same-sex couples at City Hall.
"It was one of the best days of our lives," remembered Molly McKay, who with her
partner was among the first couples married in San Francisco on Feb. 12, 2004.
"All of the same-sex couples got a taste of equality."
Afterward, McKay said Friday, people began to notice the wedding ring she had
worn for 10 years. "For us it meant really being able to have the full
dignity that everyone else is entitled to."
In August 2004, the state Supreme Court later nullified more than 4,000
marriages stemming from Newsom's action, ruling that Newsom had no authority to
disregard the marriage law. The high court is now considering the
constitutionality of the state law that defines marriage as the union of a man
and a woman.
Leno pulled his 2004 bill after it stalled in the Assembly but introduced the
measure again in 2005 and the Legislature approved it, but the governor vetoed
the bill.
Leno's latest attempt was approved in the state Senate by a 22-15 vote, with
Republicans voting unanimously against it. The governor has about a month
to veto or sign it into law.
"I know that Gov. Schwarzenegger knows in his heart that this is the right thing
to do," said McKay, who now serves as media director for the group Marriage
Equality USA. "In this struggle we will win, and it's just a matter of
when."
E-mail Haley Davies at
hdavies@sfchronicle.com.
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