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   S.F. same-sex marriages voided

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Topic: S.F. same-sex marriages voided (Read 149 times)

lakelady
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S.F. same-sex marriages voided
« on: Aug 12^th, 2004, 3:17pm »

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S.F. same-sex marriages voided
Mayor overstepped authority, California high court rules
Thursday, August 12, 2004 Posted: 3:27 PM EDT (1927 GMT)

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- The California Supreme Court on Thursday voided the nearly 4,000 same-sex marriages sanctioned in San Francisco this year and ruled unanimously that the mayor overstepped his authority by issuing licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

The court said the city illegally issued the certificates and performed the ceremonies, since state law defined marriage as a union between a man and woman.

The justices separately decided with a 5-2 vote to nullify the 3,995 marriages performed between February 12 and March 11, when the court halted the weddings. Their legality, Justice Joyce Kennard wrote, must wait until courts resolve the constitutionality of state laws that restrict marriages to opposite-sex couples.

The same-sex marriages had virtually no legal value, but powerful symbolic value. Their nullification by the high court dismayed Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, the first same-sex couple to receive a marriage license in San Francisco.

"Del is 83 years old and I am 79," Lyon said. "After being together for more than 50 years, it is a terrible blow to have the rights and protections of marriage taken away from us. At our age, we do not have the luxury of time."

About a dozen gay and lesbian couples, some wearing wedding dresses and tuxedos, waited on the steps of the Supreme Court building, and some cried when the decision was read.

The court did not resolve whether the California Constitution would permit a same-sex marriage, ruling instead on the limits of authority regarding local government officials.

Anti-same-sex marriage groups hailed the ruling, saying Mayor Gavin Newsom acted prematurely.

"Instead of helping his cause, Mayor Newsom has set back the same-sex marriage agenda and laid the foundation for the pro-marriage movement to once and for all win this battle to preserve traditional marriage," said Mathew Staver, who represents Campaign for California Families in a lawsuit challenging the San Francisco marriages.

The justices agreed to resolve the legality of the San Francisco weddings after emergency petitions were filed by conservative interest groups and Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

"Ultimately, we believe when we deal with the issue of the constitutionality of same-sex marriage in California, Mayor Newsom's position will be vindicated at the end of the day," said Dennis Herrera, San Francisco's city attorney.

"There is nothing that any court decision or politician can do that will take that (wedding) moment away," Newsom said in a midday news conference. "I'm proud of those 4,000 couples."

San Francisco's same-sex weddings, which followed a landmark ruling by Massachusetts' top court allowing gay marriage -- prompted President Bush to push for changing the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, an effort that has become campaign fodder this election year.

San Francisco Mayor Newsom: "I'm proud of those 4,000 couples."
The California court sided with Lockyer's arguments, ruling that Newsom's actions would sanction local officials to legislate state law from city halls or county government centers.

When the justices agreed to hear the case, they said they would decide only whether Newsom overstepped his mayoral powers for now, but would entertain a constitutional challenge -- that gays should be treated the same as heterosexual couples under the California Constitution -- if such a lawsuit reached the court.

Gay and lesbian couples immediately filed lawsuits making that argument, as did Newsom. The now-consolidated cases are unlikely to reach the California Supreme Court for at least a year or more. California lawmakers have refused to take a position on the matter.

Newsom argued to the justices in May that the ability of same-sex couples to marry was a "fundamental right" that compelled him to act. Newsom authorized the marriages by citing the California Constitution's ban against discrimination, and claimed he was duty-bound to follow this higher authority rather than state laws banning gay marriage.

The Arizona-based Christian law firm Alliance Defense Fund, a plaintiff in one of two cases the justices decided Thursday, had told the justices that Newsom's "act of disobedience" could lead other local officials to sanction "polygamists."

Newsom's defiance of state law created huge lines at City Hall by gays and lesbians waiting to be married, and ignited a firestorm engulfing statehouses and ballot boxes nationwide.

Missouri voters this month endorsed a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage -- a move designed to prevent that state's judiciary from agreeing with the arguments Newsom is making in California.

A state constitutional challenge by gays in Massachusetts prompted that state's highest court to endorse the gay marriages that began there in May. A judge in Washington state this month also ruled in favor of gay marriage, pending a resolution from that state's top court.

Louisiana residents are to vote on the same issue September 18. Then Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah are to vote Nov. 2. Initiatives are pending in Michigan, North Dakota and Ohio.

Four states -- Alaska, Hawaii, Nebraska and Nevada -- already have similar amendments in their constitutions.

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Acalithos
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Re: S.F. same-sex marriages voided
« Reply #1 on: Aug 16^th, 2004, 12:26am »

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Why are they being SOOO diffcult?? I'd say people POWER!! 4000 people will surely be ale to do something about that!! No wonder why everybody hates the american government!!

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luci
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Re: S.F. same-sex marriages voided
« Reply #2 on: Aug 16^th, 2004, 9:44am »

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This is a moral issue and should never have been allowed in the first place. If people want to be together that is their decision, but it shouldn't be santioned by the government!

The VERY first institution was marriage, between
a man and a woman, which began over 6,000 years ago.

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david
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Re: S.F. same-sex marriages voided
« Reply #3 on: Aug 16^th, 2004, 9:53am »

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Marriage itself is a Spirtual event done (in most cases) through ones Church. It was seized by the Government long ago to be used for its own purposes. this includes the fees we pay for marriaghe licenses. Although I personally have no problem with Gay marriages this NOT the Governments buisness!

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luci
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Re: S.F. same-sex marriages voided
« Reply #4 on: Aug 16^th, 2004, 10:20am »

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I have a problem which I did not reply to, about the word HATE. Most of us here are Americans and take offense to the word HATE used in context with our country. We do not use the word HATE in reference to other countries here.
It is called RESPECT.

« Last Edit: Aug 16^th, 2004, 10:20am by luci »

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