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A few weeks ago we wrote about a new poll in California, which showed that the state’s residents were moving toward greater support for same sex marriages. Things have changed a lot since Gavin Newsom first allowed same sex couples to get married in San Francisco City Hall three years ago.
One thing that hasn’t changed is the measured and deliberate (that’s fancy talk for taking a long time) pace of our court system. So while voters’ attitudes are changing – moving more and more in support of equality for gay citizens – the court fight grinds on.
City Attorney Dennis Hererra and Mayor Newsom have been courageous partners in this endeavor. It feels like we San Franciscans have been in just about every court in the state on this, but now we are at the top: the California State Supreme Court. On Monday, the City Attorney’s office filed their briefs asking for the state’s law barring same sex marriage to be overturned.
The City Attorney’s lawyers really did a great job. Here are some excerpts from today’s Chronicle story:
"The marriage exclusion tells lesbians and gay men that they are less worthy than child abusers, or sex offenders, or convicts in prison for murder," wrote lawyers for City Attorney Dennis Herrera in a 98-page legal brief. "Because after all, those people do have the right to get married."More than three years after Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered marriage licenses granted to same-sex couples in February 2004, the filing of opening briefs — the best chance for the city and the couples to lay out their positions — was a key step in a case that, perhaps within a year, could yield a closely-watched ruling.
In their strongly worded brief, San Francisco lawyers traced discrimination against lesbians and gay men from the first millennium to the Enlightenment to today. City attorneys compared their fight to the battle for desegregation and asked the court to ignore tradition and "the will of the popular majority," a reference to voters’ affirmation of California’s marriage law in a 2000 ballot measure. Proposition 22 affirmed a law the Legislature passed in 1977. (San Francisco Chronicle, 4/3/2007)
So, the bottom line is it looks like we are in the final stages of the court fight in California. The legislative fight, led by our very own Mark Leno, continues on and he should be commended for what he has achieved in Sacramento. We should know within the year what side of history the California State Supreme court will come down on.
This is a heavy burden for the State Supreme Court, but it is nothing compared to the burden that millions of gay folks have suffered after years of discrimination.
You can read the brief here: www.sfgov.org/site/cityattorney_index.asp.
- : 4.0
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April 5th, 2007 at 11:16 am
whatever floats yer boat - www.likroper.com
April 11th, 2007 at 7:28 am
I for the life of me can’t understand why this won’t become legal. How hard is it to see that everyone deserves the right to marry who they love, free of discrimination?
April 17th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
The mayor is a criminal and should be in jail. He directly violated the constitution of the State of California by marrying gays at City Hall. Like it or not, it’s the law. Until the law is changed the mayor is obligated (there is no choice) to uphold the law. He’s also violated federal narcotics laws. What’s next, SF for pedophilia?