Gay marriage battle expected in Assembly
Committee votes 5-3 to approve bill allowing such unions in state
Timm Herdt, Ventura County Star
April 27, 2005

SACRAMENTO -- Setting the stage for a historic showdown on the Assembly floor next month, a legislative panel on Tuesday approved a bill that would legalize gay marriages in California.

It was the second year that the proposal made it out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, but last year the bill's author, Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, allowed it to die quietly before it could come to a vote on the floor.

This year, Leno vowed that he will bring it to a vote before a June 3 deadline for lawmakers to act -- and predicted victory.

"There are no certainties," he said, "but we are very confident."

The issue, perhaps the most contentious social issue of the day, has deeply polarized American politics. Last fall, 11 states passed initiatives banning gay marriages. Their presence on the ballot was credited with boosting voter turnout among religious conservatives and helping President Bush win re-election.

Some Democrats want caution

Leading Democrats, including California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, suggested the party should temper its advocacy for marriage equality. She cautioned that advocates, including San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome, who authorized the issuance of marriage licenses to gays in his city last year, have pushed the issue "too much, too fast, too soon."

In California, resolution of the issue is now moving along two fronts -- in the Legislature and in the courts. Last month, a San Francisco Superior Court judge ruled that the prohibition against gay marriages is unconstitutional because it violates the state Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law. The decision has been appealed and is headed for a Supreme Court review, probably sometime late next year.

The 5-3 Judiciary Committee vote was along party lines, with majority Democrats in support.

Citing a resolution in support of the bill that was approved by delegates to the state Democratic Party convention earlier this month, a leading critic said the issue has created a clear partisan divide in California.

"The truth is finally out of the closet," said Randy Thomasson, president of the Campaign for Children and Families. "The Democratic Party is attacking marriage and rejecting every voter who said to keep marriage for a man and a woman."

Opponents cite Proposition 22

Testimony at the hearing was split between advocates who proclaimed the measure was essential to prevent discrimination against gays and opponents who argued that the bill would subvert the will of California voters who passed Proposition 22 with a 61 percent majority in March 2000.

That measure said "only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

Leno and other supporters say that Proposition 22 specifically changed only one section of California's Family Law Code -- the section the deals with recognition of marriages performed in other states. They say that since the bill, AB 19, would change only the portions of the law governing marriages within California, it does not violate the constitutional mandate of Proposition 22.

Opponents called that argument "disingenuous."

"I think, frankly, you're in the wrong building," Assemblyman Tom Harman, R-Huntington Beach, told Leno. "You should either be in the courts or you should take this back to the people."

Leno, one of six gay or lesbian lawmakers in the Legislature, said he expects opponents of gay marriage will put the issue before voters next year, regardless of the outcome of his bill.

In the meantime, he said, it is essential that California lawmakers stand up for the basic human freedom of being able to marry the partner of one's choice.

He recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

"If we really mean 'liberty and justice for all,' I ask that you consider this bill very, very seriously," he said.

NAACP supports legislation

Among those testifying in support of the bill was Alice Huffman, president of the California NAACP.

"We're in this issue because we are for justice for all and equality for all," Huffman said. "It is only natural that we should engage in this battle. ... I cannot believe anyone in love should be denied their right to marry."

The Rev. Bea Chun, pastor of a Lutheran Church in San Jose, noted that the bill specifically states that religious leaders would not be compelled to perform marriages that they believe are wrong.

"Every spiritual leader needs to be free to pronounce an individual marriage as God-given or not," she said.

The bill will next be heard by the Appropriations Committee.