[extropy-chat] Judge: Ca. Can't Uphold State Heterosexual Marriage Monopoly

[Al Brooks]

 In the eagerly awaited opinion likely to be appealed
to the state's highest court, San Francisco County
Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer said that
withholding marriage licenses from gays and lesbians
is unconstitutional. 
   "It appears that no rational purpose exists for
limiting marriage in this state to opposite-sex
partners," Kramer wrote. 
    The judge wrote that the state's historical
definition of marriage, by itself, cannot justify the
denial of equal protection for gays and lesbians. 
    "The state's protracted denial of equal protection
cannot be justified simply because such constitutional
violation has become traditional," Kramer wrote. 
   Kramer ruled in lawsuits brought by the city of San
Francisco and a dozen same-sex couples last March. The
suits were brought after the California Supreme Court
halted a four-week marriage spree that Mayor Gavin
Newsom had initiated in February 2004 when he directed
city officials to issue marriage licenses to gays and
lesbians in defiance of state law. 
   The plaintiffs said withholding marriage licenses
from gays and lesbians trespasses on the civil rights
all citizens are guaranteed under the California
Constitution. 
    Two legal groups representing religious
conservatives joined with California Attorney General
Bill Lockyer in defending the existing laws and had
vowed to appeal if Kramer did not rule in their favor.

   Lockyer's office has said it expects the matter
eventually will have to be settled by the California
Supreme Court. 
   A pair of bills pending before the California
Legislature would put a constitutional amendment
banning same-sex marriage on the November ballot. If
California voters approve such an amendment, as those
in 13 other states did last year, that would put the
issue out of the control of lawmakers and the courts. 
   
  


		
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