Ten months after San Francisco's mayor defiantly granted marriage licenses to thousands of gay couples, a judge began hearing arguments Dec. 22 in a pair of lawsuits that seek to have California's one-man, one-woman matrimony law declared unconstitutional.
Advocates for heterosexual marriage are trying to convince San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer that California's marriage laws do not discriminate against gays and lesbians because the institution's purpose is to produce children, the Associated Press reported. 'They can't perform the basic functions of marriage, therefore it's not discrimination,' said Rena Lindevaldsen of the Campaign for California Families.
However, Sherri Sokeland Kaiser, arguing on behalf of the city of San Francisco, called Lindevaldsen's claims 'extraordinary' and cited the state's willingness to allow other people to marry who will likely never bear children, such as women over 50 and convicted criminals sentenced to life in prison. Kaiser said that marriage was a fundamental right to all Californians regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Current laws, she said, were discriminatory and based on sexual stereotypes. A pair of lawsuits were brought by the city of San Francisco and attorneys for 12 same-sex couples. Together, the parties are trying to make California the only state other than Massachusetts where gays and lesbians can legally marry.
The state's interest concerning the raising ofchildren has formed the core of the arguments made by conservative groups seeking to maintain the state's existing marriage laws. On Dec. 22, attorney Glen Lavy of the Alliance Defense Fund said the state should seek to promote families that include both a mother and a father as the ideal environment for raising children. On Dec. 23, he said gays and lesbians are not discriminated against because many end up marrying people of the opposite gender.
Gay marriage supporters shot down those claims on Dec. 23. 'I guess they think the same-sex marriage we're seeking won't just be permitted, but required,' Kaiser said, eliciting chuckles from courtroom observers. 'We're here because we, like the plaintiffs, believe in the value of marriage and we want to protect our children, not steal away theirs.'
The trial is limited to the issue of whether the California Constitution prohibits excluding gays from marriage. The trial is the first step in what is expected to be a yearlong odyssey that could end in the state's highest court. The judge acknowledged as much by saying, 'I want as clean a record and as prompt a resolution as possible because I'm fully aware I'm just the first stop,' he said. 'I want all of these people sitting in the court of appeals as quickly as I can get them there.'
The consolidated cases were brought after the California Supreme Court ordered San Francisco officials to stop granting marriage licenses to gays and lesbians. At that time, the court indicated it might be willing to consider the core constitutional issue after it passed through the lower courts.
In related news, most of the gay and lesbian couples married in San Francisco earlier this year have responded to a city refund offer by donating their marriage license fees to support the legal fight challenging the state law banning gay weddings, the San Francisco Examiner reported. Two-thirds of the fees have been donated to an 'equal protection' legal fund, said City Assessor Mabel Teng.
