SAN FRANCISCO – A Superior Court judge has ruled that California’s law limiting marriage to a union between a man and a woman is unconstitutional.
The lawsuits were brought by the city of San Francisco and a dozen same-sex couples last March, after the California Supreme Court halted the four-week marriage spree Mayor Gavin Newsom had initiated when he directed city officials to issue marriage licenses to gays and lesbians in defiance of state law. They argued that California can no longer justify limiting marriage to a man and a woman, hoping for a ruling that, if upheld on appeal, would pave the way for the nation’s most populous state to follow Massachusetts in allowing same-sex couples to wed.
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 vowed to appeal if San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer did not rule in their favor. Lockyer’s office said it expects the matter eventually will have to be settled by the California Supreme Court.
The case before Kramer has been closely watched because of California’s historical role on the forefront of gay rights.
Since Jan. 1, same-sex couples registering as domestic partners in California have been granted virtually all the rights and responsibilities of marriage, so the arguments for striking down the state’s gay marriage ban have centered as much on the social meaning of marriage as its legal benefits.
