Gay marriage measure clears Assembly panel
Bill faces many legislative, legal hurdles to reach governor's desk
Bill Ainsworth, San Diego Union Tribune
April 27, 2005
 
Sacramento – For the second year in a row, the Assembly Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage.

But unlike last year, when a similar bill was held in the Appropriations Committee, proponents yesterday said growing support for the measure should take it all the way through the Democratic-dominated Legislature.

"I think it's going to get all the way to the governor's desk," said Geoffrey Kors, executive director of Equality California, a gay-rights organization promoting the legislation.

By a 6-3 vote, with Democrats in support and Republicans opposed, the judiciary committee approved Assembly Bill 19, sponsored by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco.

The bill, which has 29 co-authors, will be heard next by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

The judiciary committee's action goes against the political tide that swept much of the nation last year when 11 states banned same-sex marriage.

The legislation faces a number of political and legal hurdles.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's press secretary, Margita Thompson, said the governor believes the issue of same-sex marriage should be decided by the courts, which are reviewing a challenge to state marriage laws.

Opponents say the bill is banned by Proposition 22, a measure approved in 2000 that stated "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

"The Legislature has zero authority to pass this bill," said Randy Thomasson, who heads the Campaign for Children and Families.

Thomasson and other opponents of same-sex marriage argue that only voters can overturn the state's prohibition of same-sex marriage.

Leno contends Proposition 22 only bars California from recognizing same-sex marriage from other jurisdictions, leaving the door open for the state to change its definition of marriage.

Leno said his bill doesn't address Proposition 22, but rather changes a law passed by the Legislature in 1977 that required marriage to be between a man and a woman.

Both sides cited court decisions that back their interpretation of Proposition 22. Supporters of same-sex marriage also are hopeful now that a San Francisco Superior Court judge has declared the state's denial of marriage to same-sex couples unconstitutional, a ruling that is being appealed.

Besides disagreeing over legal issues, combatants in the state's marriage wars offered widely differing views of the bill's impact on society.

Backers say the bill extends civil rights. They compared the legislation to historic decisions that overturned the ban on interracial marriage.

"If we really mean liberty and justice for all, I ask you to consider this bill seriously," Leno said.

Critics said changing marriage undermines society.

"Marriage between a man and a woman, what you might call a traditional family, is the basic building block of our society," said Assemblyman Tim Leslie, R-Tahoe City.