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WASHINGTON (CNN)
-- President Bush said Tuesday that he supports a constitutional
amendment banning same-sex marriage to "prevent the meaning of
marriage from being changed forever."
Feb. 24, 2004
Criticizing San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom,
judges of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, and county officials in
New Mexico who moved to let same-sex couples receive marriage
licenses, Bush said that in recent months "some activist judges
and local officials have made an aggressive attempt to redefine
marriage.
"And unless action is taken, we can
expect more arbitrary court decisions, more litigation, more
defiance of the law by local officials, all of which adds to
uncertainty.
"After more than two centuries of
American jurisprudence and millennia of human experience, a few
judges and local authorities are presuming to change the most
fundamental institution of civilization. Their actions have created
confusion on an issue that requires clarity."
Bush said states might be forced to recognize
same-sex marriages performed in states that allow them.
"On a matter of such importance, the
voice of the people must be heard. Activist courts have left the
people with one recourse. If we're to prevent the meaning of
marriage from being changed forever, our nation must enact a
constitutional amendment to protect marriage in America. Decisive
and democratic action is needed because attempts to redefine
marriage in a single state or city could have serious consequences
throughout the country."
He called on Congress to "promptly pass
and send to the states for ratification" an amendment that
would specifically define marriage as the union of a "husband
and wife."
But Bush also said state legislatures should
be left to define "legal arrangements other than
marriage," suggesting that such an amendment would do nothing
to stop states from allowing civil unions for same-sex couples.
"Our government should respect every
person and protect the institution of marriage," he said.
"There is not a contradiction between these
responsibilities."
A call for civil
debate
Bush called for a civil debate on the
controversial issue.
"We should also conduct this difficult
debate in a matter worthy of our country, without bitterness or
anger. In all that lies ahead, let us match strong convictions with
kindness and good will and decency."
As recently as last week, Bush repeated his
belief that marriage should be restricted to heterosexual couples.
He added that he was "troubled" by
legal decisions in Massachusetts that could clear the way for
same-sex marriage -- and the decision by San Francisco's Newsom this
month to defy state law and order the county clerk to issue marriage
licenses to same-sex couples.
Thousands of couples have taken advantage.
Last week, Bush said he was paying close
attention to what was taking place in San Francisco and
Massachusetts.
"I have watched carefully what's
happening in San Francisco, where licenses were being issued, even
though the law states otherwise," Bush said. "I have
consistently stated that I'll support law to protect marriage
between a man and a woman. Obviously these events are influencing my
decision."
"I am watching very carefully, but I am
troubled by what I've seen," Bush said.
In his State of the Union speech last month,
Bush has addressed same-sex marriage, saying, "our nation must
defend the sanctity of marriage."
He stopped short of endorsing a constitutional
amendment that would ban marriages for gay and lesbian couples, as
social conservative groups had hoped.
Instead, Bush said, "if judges insist on
forcing their arbitrary will upon the people, the only alternative
left to the people would be the constitutional process." |
Lawsuit challenges
California's
same-sex marriage ban
Associated
Press
Feb. 24, 2004
LOS ANGELES
- Two gay couples have sued Los Angeles County alleging
they were denied marriage licenses.
The lawsuit states that Rev. Troy Perry and
his partner Phillip DeBlieck, and Robin Tyler and her partner Diane
Olson, had asked for the licenses on Feb. 12 in Beverly Hills, but
instead were given a flier about the state's stance against gay
marriages, the lawsuit alleges.
County Counsel Lloyd Pellman, who said he
hadn't reviewed the lawsuit, declined to comment to the Los Angeles
Times.
"In most ways, Philip and I are like any
other couple in this state," said Perry, a member of the Los
Angeles Human Rights Commission. "We work our jobs, we pay our
taxes. We have demonstrated our commitment and our love for each
other over almost two decades."
Perry and DeBlieck were legally married in
Canada last year.
The announcement of the lawsuit came on
Monday, when California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said he'll ask
the state Supreme Court to decide whether San Francisco's approval
of same-sex marriages violates state law.
More than 3,000 same-sex couples have been
married since San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom decided to issue the
licenses Feb. 12.
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CA Judge decides not to halt gay marriages;
while
N.M. county offers, then halts
issuance of same-sex licenses
February 20, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO - Gay and lesbian couples won another reprieve Friday when a judge declined to immediately stop San Francisco from granting them marriage licenses, saying conservative groups failed to prove the weddings would cause irreparable harm.
Judge Ronald Evans Quidachay denied the Campaign for California Families’ request for a temporary restraining order but said the group did have the right to a hearing on their argument that the city is violating state law.
The conservative group argued that the weddings harm all Californians who voted in 2000 for Proposition 22, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
The judge suggested that the rights of the gay and lesbian couples appeared to be more substantial.
“If the court has to weigh rights here, on the one hand you are talking about voting rights, and on the other you are talking about equal rights,” Quidachay said.
Quidachay consolidated the Campaign for California Families’ lawsuit against the city with one filed by another conservative group, and told lawyers for both sides to work out between themselves when the next hearing would be held.
Conservative groups had taken the case to court Friday in hopes of putting a stop to San Francisco’s gay-marriage spree, which started when Mayor Gavin Newsom opened the floodgates last week.
Two judges had refused earlier
in the week to immediately halt the issuance of licenses by the city.
On Friday, a defiant Newsom
officiated at the wedding of one of California’s most prominent lesbian
politicians in his City Hall office. A crowd of politicians and lawyers
gathered for that wedding as others lined up to join the 3,000 same-sex
couples the city has allowed to get married so far.
While most Americans remain
opposed to same-sex marriages, a new poll out Friday showed that sympathy
for allowing gays to marry has risen by 6 points over the past four years,
to 44 percent. Fifty percent of Californians remain opposed.
New
Mexico Reversal
Meanwhile, a New Mexico county that began granting marriage
licenses to gay couples Friday indicated it would stop after the state
attorney general said the documents are invalid. Some of the dozens of
couples who got licenses Friday in Sandoval County also got married
immediately afterward in brief ceremonies.
The development in the small
town of Bernalillo came after the Republican county clerk’s unexpected
decision to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. She says she
checked with the county attorney before doing so.
But then came the attorney
general’s “advisory” opinion, and now a spokesman says the county
will abide by the law. However, New Mexico law defines marriage as a civil
contract between contracting parties. It doesn’t mention gender.
Judges allow same-sex marriages to
continue in S.F.
...at least until Friday
February 17, 2004
After two separate hearings, superior court judges
allowed the city of San Francisco to continue to issue marriage licenses
to same-sex couples and allowed the more than 2,400 same-sex marriages
performed there in the past six days to stand until at least Friday.
In the first of two judicial actions--because different antigay plaintiffs
had filed two separate cases that were heard Tuesday by two different
judges--San Francisco County superior court judge Ronald Quidachay said
Tuesday morning that he was not prepared to rule on a lawsuit to block the
city's ongoing spree of same-sex weddings. Quidachay delayed action until
a second hearing, scheduled for Friday, February 20.
The second judge, James Warren, said Tuesday afternoon that San Francisco
appears to be violating state law by issuing marriage licenses to same-sex
couples, but he declined to order an immediate halt to the weddings, and
Mayor Gavin Newsom--who had ordered the city to begin issuing the licenses
in defiance of the antigay Proposition 22, approved by voters in
2000--said through a spokesperson that the city would continue performing
weddings until a judge orders them to stop.
Not including marriages performed Tuesday, 2,464 licenses had been issued
since Thursday, according to the city. Nearly all those couples were also
married in City Hall after receiving their licenses and had their marriage
officially registered with the city. Hundreds of volunteers assisted
overworked city officials--working during what should have been a
three-day weekend--to process the paperwork, maintain order among the
hundreds of people waiting in line, and to perform the marriages.
Mayor Newsom has argued that the equal protection clause of the California
constitution makes denying marriage licenses to gay couples illegal,
invalidating both Proposition 22 and preexisting state laws limiting
access to marriage to opposite-sex couples. "What trumps any
proposition is the California constitution," said city attorney
Dennis Herrera, adding that his office "will be fully prepared to
win" the case.
Whatever the outcome of Tuesday's court cases, the final judicial decision
on the matter is expected to come later from the California supreme court,
as both sides have promised to appeal.
Courts in San Francisco were closed for Lincoln's birthday on Thursday,
when the city began marrying same-sex couples. On Friday, a conservative
group asked Judge Warren to stop the weddings immediately and to void all
the same-sex marriages performed in the city so far. Instead, the judge
told the city on Tuesday afternoon that it could either stop the weddings
or return to his court on Monday, March 29, to explain its legal position.
"We are extremely happy and gratified that a stay was not
issued," Herrerra said.
"We will continue to issue marriage licenses until the court rules we
can no longer do so," spokeswoman Darlene Chiu said in the mayor's
office shortly after Warren's ruling.
The Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund had asked the San
Francisco superior court judge to issue an order commanding the city to
stop issuing the licenses or show cause explaining why he would not. Judge
Warren did issue the order requested--after arguing for a while about the
punctuation in the group's proposed order--but he made his order
nonbinding, which allows the city to continue to marry same-sex couples in
defiance of the judge's warning that the licenses appear to be illegal.
Judge Warren's decision was "not 100% of what we were looking
for," acknowledged Robert Tyler, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense
Fund, which argued the case on behalf of the Proposition 22 group. Still,
Tyler said he was pleased. "The judge would not issue a cease and
desist order unless the judge made a determination that the mayor is in
violation."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also urged city officials to stop the same-sex
weddings.
"I support all of California's existing laws that provide
domestic-partnership benefits and protections," Schwarzenegger said
in a statement. "However, Californians spoke on the issue of same-sex
marriage when they overwhelmingly approved California's law that defines
marriage as being between a man and a woman. I support that law and
encourage San Francisco officials to obey that law. The courts should act
quickly to resolve this matter."
Predictably, Tyler said his group would appeal to a higher court if San
Francisco keeps at it. "If they begin issuing marriage licenses
tomorrow morning, we will file tomorrow morning," said Tyler. He
suggested that the city has bought itself an expensive and ill-advised
legal battle and that his firm would seek punitive damages and legal fees.
Earlier on Tuesday, in a heavily crowded courtroom across the street from
City Hall, where hundreds have lined up for the marriage certificates
since Thursday, Judge Quidachay told lawyers for the Campaign for
California Families that they had not given the city enough notice to
obtain an emergency injunction.
"The court itself is not prepared to hear the matter," Quidachay
said. Campaign for California Families, a conservative group, said state
law explicitly defines marriage as "a personal relation arising out
of a civil contract between a man and a woman." In addition, the
group is arguing that San Francisco's actions also violate Proposition 22,
the ballot measure approved by California voters in 2000 that sought to
strengthen that language by saying the state will recognize only marriages
between a man and woman as valid.
"If the mayor can't read the law, we're hoping a judge can read it
for him," said Randy Thomasson, president of the Campaign for
California Families.
In both court cases, opponents of equal access to marriage are seeking to
nullify the marriages that have already occurred and been officially
recognized by the city and to block the city from continuing to grant the
"gender-neutral" licenses that were first issued last week under
an order from Newsom. The newly elected mayor's decision to permit gay
marriages, while still legally unsettled, has intensified the national
debate over whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.
After issuing a record number of more than 750 wedding licenses on Monday,
San Francisco officials scaled back the size of their operation on Tuesday
as city staffers who had been recruited to help handle the flood of
newlyweds returned to their regular jobs. City assessor Mabel Teng
estimated that 30 to 50 gay couples would be married Tuesday.
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