March 5, 2008
California Court Appears Split on Same-Sex Marriage
by Bob Egelko
San Francisco Chronicle
The divisive issue of same-sex marriage appeared to split the California Supreme Court down the middle Tuesday as the justices agonized over questions of tradition, discrimination and democratic government during a 3 1/2-hour hearing.
It has been almost four years since the court annulled the weddings at San Francisco City Hall of nearly 4,000 same-sex couples without deciding the constitutionality of the state law that prevented them from legally marrying.
The law is being challenged in four lawsuits by 23 couples and the city of San Francisco, who argue that it constitutes discrimination - based on both gender and sexual orientation - and violates the fundamental right under the California Constitution to marry the partner of one's choice.
But at Tuesday's hearing in San Francisco, a state lawyer argued that California has met its obligation to treat gays and lesbians equally, through laws that grant same-sex domestic partners virtually the same rights as husbands and wives, and is not discriminating by defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
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