This page is sponsored by Future Ex-Boyfriend of the Week
Back
to Gay Headline News
(Sacramento, California) A California assembly member Monday announced legislation to allow same-sex couples to obtain marriage licenses.
“The time has come for California to honor its commitment to equality for all Californians,” stated Assembly Member Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), the author of the legislation.
“My bill will affirm the civil rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender adults who wish to take on the responsibility of marriage and ensure that children being raised by these couples receive the same protections as children raised by married couples. For too long, the right to marry has been denied to thousands of Californians based on their gender and sexual orientation, resulting in harm to them and their children.”
The bill is not a violation of Prop 22 says Leno, who is the Chair of California’s LGBT Legislative Caucus.
The largest LGBT rights group in the state agrees.
"Proposition 22, an initiative passed by California voters in 2000, was designed to prevent California from being forced to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples who were married outside of California. However, that initiative did not change the criteria for the issuance of marriage licenses in California, which is what the new bill will do," said Equality California executive director Geoffrey Kors in a statement.
"The denial of marriage licenses to same sex couples is nothing less than state-sanctioned discrimination,” Kors, said.
Presently, California couples can register with the State of California as domestic partners. Registered couples in California currently are granted approximately sixteen rights and responsibilities under state law. In 2005, when the Domestic Partner Rights & Responsibilities Act takes effect, registered domestic couples will be entitled to hundreds of additional protections. It does not, however, grant all of the rights of marriage under state law, and it does not make couples and their children eligible for over a thousand federal protections offered married couples and their children.
Leno said his bill would rectify that.
The Domestic Partner Rights & Responsibilities Act is already being challenged in two separate court actions which maintain it is a violation of Prop 22. It is expected that if passed the marriage bill would also be challenged.
In November, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued a ruling affirming, for the first time in the United States, the right of same sex couples to marry under commonly held principles of constitutional law. The Massachusetts high court labeled the denial of marriage equality on the basis of sexual orientation "arbitrary," and noted that the "benefits accessible only by way of a marriage license are enormous, touching nearly every aspect of life and death."
The court is now hearing questions arising from the ruling. The Massachusetts Senate wants to know if civil unions would suffice for gay marriage.
©365Gay.com® 2004
Site
Map
[Future Ex-Boyfriend] [Kiss
of the Week] [Boyfriend Art] [Antique
Boyfriend] [No Porn Promise] [Gay
Boyfriends Dating Connection] [gay
gifts and books shopping] [Gay News and Info]
[streaming
gay video] [gay
sex toy superstore] [get a million bucks for
your gay boyfriend]
Gallery of FREE gay Video Clips
 Meet Gay Video Stars LIVE! |
|
||
| Gay Webmasters |
