Jun 03, 2005  |  By: EARTHA MELZE  | COMMENTS     

A bill that would’ve extended marriage to gay couples in California has died in the California Assembly.

The bill, sponsored by Del. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and 30 other lawmakers, is known as AB 19, the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Restoration Act. It required 41 votes to pass.

According to Equality California, the final vote Thursday evening was 37-36 with all the Republican Assembly members voting against the bill and a key block of Democratic members abstaining from the vote.

This was the final vote for the bill which was reintroduced by Leno after failing to get the necessary votes earlier in the week.

California’s legislative session ends today.

“This is a bittersweet moment, Eddie Gutierrez, director of communications for Equality California said, “to see so many families come together for equality, and so many legislators turning their backs on California families…”

If the bill had passed California would have become the first state in the country to voluntarily rewrite marriage laws to include gay couples as equals.

Proposition 22, which passed by ballot initiative in 2000, prohibited recognition of same-sex marriage in California. This law was found unconstitutional in a San Francisco Superior Court ruling in April. Last week California Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed an appeal of that decision.

Social conservative groups have begun a voter initiative to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage in California. The constitutional amendment is expected to be on the ballot in June 2006.

“This bill would make a mockery of marriage,” said Mathew Staver, president and general counsel for the Liberty Counsel, the legal wing of Rev. Jerry Falwell’s ministry.

‘Drain marriage of its essence’
Staver said that AB 19 would “drain marriage of its essence, objective, and common sense purpose.” The purpose of marriage is for procreation and raising children so they are in an environment with gender duality, Staver said, it is an essential role of government to be able to strengthen families.

Staver claimed that the people of California voiced opposition to same-sex marriage by adopting Proposition 22, which prohibits recognition of same-sex marriage, in 2000.

Gay rights activists, legal scholars and social conservatives disagree over whether Proposition 22 was intended to keep other states from forcing California to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere or whether it was intended to ban all same-sex marriages.

California has a unique ballot initiative system in which citizens can enact laws through a statewide voter initiative; legislation enacted in this way cannot be changed by the Assembly.

Staver said that if AB 19 passes, the Liberty Counsel would sue to overturn it on the grounds that it violates Proposition 22.

The constitutionality of Prop 22 itself is also in question. On April 14, Judge Richard Kramer of the San Francisco Superior Court ruled that Prop 22 violated the equal protection clause of the California Constitution and unfairly discriminated against same-sex couples.

Last week, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed an appeal of the trial court decision in the San Francisco-based 1st District Court of Appeals. Lockyer has said that he supports gay rights and is simply fulfilling his responsibility to uphold state law.

If same-sex marriage becomes legal in California through the passage of AB 19, the lawsuits over the constitutionality of state laws against same-sex marriage would probably be set aside, said Barbara Cox, professor at California Western School of Law.

According to Staver, the legislature’s actions are the least important in the hierarchy of California lawmaking because a ballot measure can override a bill passed by the legislature and the constitution trumps even laws adopted by ballot initiative.

Assembly defeated amendment attempt
Bills to amend the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriage as well as the recognition of domestic partnerships were defeated in the Senate and Assembly judiciary committees earlier this month.

Those bills, if passed into law, would have repealed legal protections for lesbians and gays and their families including benefits they already have under California’s domestic partnership laws.

Following this defeat, social conservative groups announced a campaign to amend the constitution by ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage and recognition of domestic partnerships.

“It’s high time that we the people override the judges and politicians who’ve been relentlessly attacking marriage,” said Randy Thomasson, an initiative organizer. “This vitally important ballot initiative empowers average Californians to stop the insanity of judges and ...