Let gays wed, city tells court

Sacramento city leaders have joined the pitched political debate over gays' rights to wed, filing a legal petition in support of same-sex marriages as part of a landmark case to come before the state Supreme Court next year.

Council members voted 8-1 in a closed session Nov. 6 to join an amicus curiae, or friend of the court brief, on behalf of plaintiffs in San Francisco seeking to void parts of the state Family Code that do not recognize marriage rights for same-sex couples.

"This is very much a civil rights issue," said Sacramento Councilman Ray Tretheway, who first asked the council to consider the legal brief last month. "This (position) definitely reflects what the city of Sacramento is – progressive, addressing human-rights issues that absolutely affect many of our citizens."

Others – including the lone council holdout, Robbie Waters – say voters had already decided in 2000 to limit marriage to only a man and a woman.

Waters, who voted for the proposition and is also the council's only Republican, said he has respected and supported domestic partnerships over the years, but could not back the city's legal gesture, especially "if this is just a 'feel good' thing."

"It's my personal feeling," Waters said. "I may not be politically correct in some situations, but I have to vote my conscience. ... And so be it."

Waters said he also did not believe it was right for the city to interfere with an issue before the state Supreme Court.

But the gay rights issue continues to serve as a seismic flashpoint from the Capitol to council chambers.

Just last month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation for the second time in three years that would have legalized gay marriage, largely citing the voter's will on Proposition 22 seven years ago.

"... It would be wrong for the people to vote for something, and for me to then overturn it," Schwarzenegger said at the time.

Opponents of allowing gay marriage have made similar arguments since the passage of Proposition 22, with groups such as the Traditional Values Coalition arguing that proponents of gay marriage should take the matter directly to the voters again if they are confident of winning at the polls.

A Field Poll last year found 50 percent of registered voters oppose gay marriage, while 44 percent support it. Another poll conducted this year by the Public Policy Institute of California indicated 48 percent of likely voters oppose gay marriage, with 46 percent in support.

More than 62 percent of Sacramento County residents voted for Proposition 22 then, slightly higher than the overall percentage of proponents in the state.

Last week, the court approved Sacramento's petition on the brief, and the capital city joined more than half-a-dozen other large metropolitan areas, including Los Angeles, San Jose and Oakland in the constitutional challenge to the state's ban on gay marriage.

The city of Davis also has signed on.

In the petition, Sacramento city attorneys cited the city's past record on gay issues, including its 1986 ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation. A year later, the city extended the protections to those with AIDS. It also enacted a domestic partnership program in 1992.

"The City of Sacramento has a long history of supporting diversity and domestic partnerships, and opposing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation," the petition reads. "The City has a substantial interest in the outcome of this case."

The case originates out of the marriage licenses granted to gay men and lesbians during the unprecedented public ceremonies at San Francisco City Hall in 2004.

The high court at the time immediately nullified thousands of those marriage contracts and set in motion litigation over equal protection and due process rights for gays.

A San Francisco Superior Court judge found the ban on same-sex marriages to be unconstitutional, but a later state appellate court review reversed that decision last year, setting the stage for the Supreme Court's ultimate say on gay marriage in California.

Same-sex couples who register as domestic partners are entitled to a majority of rights granted by the state to spouses. But California's domestic partnerships are not necessarily recognized in other states, nor do they qualify for Social Security, veterans benefits and other protections – a fact of life long familiar to Sacramento poet Michael R. Gorman.

Next month, Gorman will celebrate his 12th anniversary with his partner, Dean Copsey, whom he "spiritually married" in a ceremony that observed Celtic rites.

Hanging on the wall of the couple's home is the certificate from the Sacramento County clerk's office recognizing their domestic partnership, but Gorman said it's time for the state to give the same rights to gays as given to heterosexual couples.

"When you have rights and privileges reserved for certain people and not for others, that is against everything we stand for in this country," Gorman said.

"I'm really proud of Sacramento (for supporting gay marriage), and I'm hoping California will make it legal."

The state Supreme Court is expected to begin hearing oral arguments on the case early next year.

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