Top California court rules gays may marry
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The California Supreme Courtoverturned a ban on same-sex marriages on Thursday in a majorvictory for gay rights advocates that will allow homosexualcouples to marry in the most populous U.S. state.
The court found that California laws limiting marriage toheterosexual couples are at odds with rights guaranteed by thestate's constitution. Opponents of gay marriage vowed tocontest the ruling with a statewide ballot measure for aconstitutional amendment to ban gay marriages.
The ruling would allow California to be the second state,after Massachusetts, to allow gay marriage. Connecticut, NewHampshire, New Jersey and Vermont permit same-sex civil unionsthat grant largely similar rights as those for married couplesbut lack the full, federal legal protections of marriage.
The California court's 4-3 decision overturns state lawsprohibiting same-sex nuptials and is likely to influence otherstates expected to rule on gay marriage.
The state's constitution "guarantees same-sex couples thesame substantive constitutional rights as opposite-sex couplesto choose one's life partner and enter with that person into acommitted, officially recognized, and protected familyrelationship," the court said.
Gay marriage has been one of the most divisive issues inrecent American politics and has mobilized millions of sociallyconservative Christian voters to support candidates such asPresident George W. Bush who oppose it.
In San Francisco, a bastion of gay rights with its largeand vocal gay community, people were quick to react to thelandmark ruling and started making marriage plans.
Susan Graham, 46, sent a text message to her female partnerof 10 years proposing marriage. She responded: "Are youkidding? Absolutely."
Bruce Ivie, 51, and partner David Bowers, 61, were thefirst people at the San Francisco court clerk's office toobtain a copy of the decision.
"Sweet," Ivie said on finding the decision's bottom line onthe state's ban on gay marriage. "The second paragraph says itall to me: It's unconstitutional."
SAN FRANCISCO READIES LICENSES
Californians in 2000 voted to reaffirm a 1977 state lawdefining marriage as union of a man and woman. But four yearslater, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom challenged that law byissuing marriage licenses to gay couples, which led to thecourt battle decided on Thursday by the state Supreme Court.
Newsom said his controversial policy had been vindicatedand that he plans to resume issuing marriage licenses forsame-sex couples in coming weeks.
"It's an exhilarating feeling. That's the best I candescribe it," Newsom said. "At the end of the day, this isabout real people and their lives and their families, and itdoesn't get much more personal than that."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had opposed San Francisco'smarriage licenses for gays, said he would uphold the statesupreme court's decision.
"Also, as I have said in the past, I will not support anamendment to the constitution that would overturn this statesupreme court ruling," he said.
A dissenting opinion by Judge Marvin Baxter and joined byJudge Ming Chin said a narrow majority of the court had carveda constitutional right out of existing equal-protection laws,overstepping legislative powers in what amounted to "legaljujitsu." A third justice dissented on different grounds.
"It simply does not have the right to erase, then recast,the age-old definition of marriage, as virtually all societieshave understood it, in order to satisfy its own contemporarynotions of equality and justice," Baxter wrote.
But the Judicial Council of California, which overseesstate courts, said the ruling is final in 30 days andmunicipalities must prepare to issue marriage licenses to gayand lesbian couples.
Opponents of gay marriage said they will ask voters in theNovember election to endorse a constitutional amendment on thestate ballot that would supersede the court's ruling bydefining marriage exclusively as between a man and woman.
"These out-of-touch California judges will not have thelast word on marriage," said Brian Brown, head of the NationalOrganization for Marriage California.
Both sides of the debate agreed the California court'sdecision raised the stakes in the national debate over gaymarriage. Newsom predicted it would resonate across the UnitedStates: "As California goes, so goes the nation," he said.
Randy Thomasson of Campaign for Children and Families saidthat scenario would further energize opponents of gay marriage.
"If these judges get away with it, other state supremecourts may get the same idea they can make up the law,"Thomasson said.
(Additional reporting by Amanda Beck and Eric Auchard inSan Francisco, Suzanne Hurt in Sacramento and Mark Egan in NewYork; Editing by Mary Milliken and Philip Barbara)