Gay Marriage Opponents Set for Court

[rodbarnett]

SAN FRANCISCO - Their wedding march on City Hall produced marriage licenses in the hundreds, but gay and lesbian couples who took part may not even finish opening gifts before their nuptials are null and void.


Opponents of Mayor Gavin Newsom's decision to defy state law and have marriage licenses issued to gay and lesbian couples were to have their day in court Tuesday, with hearings scheduled on the petitions of two groups.

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In a brief submitted for a court hearing Tuesday, lawyers for one of the groups seeking to block gay weddings said Newsom was in blatant violation of state law when he ordered marriage licenses for gay couples.


Newsom has argued that the equal protection clause of the California Constitution makes denying marriage licenses to gay couples illegal. But lawyers for a group formed to defend Proposition 22 — a 2000 ballot initiative that says the state will recognize only marriages between a man and woman as valid — contend the mayor lacks the authority to make that decision.


"What the mayor and his cronies have attempted to do is short-circuit the legal process by being both judge and jury themselves," said Alliance Defense Fund attorney Benjamin Bull.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040217/ap_on_re_us/gay_marriage&cid=519&ncid=716

[LeftHander]

1. 1st open challenge

And I think that just because a ballot inititive was passed does not mean it is constitutional. (state)

This is going to travel further up the Cali courts.