CALIFORNIA’S SUPREME court yesterday upheld a ban on gay marriage in the state, backing a referendum that voted down an earlier ruling recognising homosexual weddings.
But the court also ruled that 18,000 gay marriages that have already taken place in the last year will continue to be recognised by the state government.
The ruling is the latest twist in a social battle that is increasingly replacing abortion as a rallying point for conservatives after several states legalised gay marriages, with more expected to follow, while others have passed laws barring them.
The California judgment was met with cries of “shame on you” by angry gay rights activists outside the court, who said they would pursue a second referendum to overturn the ban. The original vote, known as “Proposition Eight”, imposed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union “between a man and a woman” in the state’s constitution.
It was passed in November with 52 per cent of voters in favour.
The backlash against gay marriage came after a supreme court ruling in May 2008 that the state constitution’s ban on discrimination did not permit a bar on homosexual couples marrying.
The court said the unions were a basic civil right and ruled: “An individual’s sexual orientation, like a person’s race or gender, does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights.” The court also spoke of the need for gay couples to be treated with respect and dignity.
Marriage ceremonies began in June but religious groups and conservatives swiftly began organising against them.
According to the Los Angeles Times, California has more than 100,000 households headed by gay couples, of which a quarter have children.
The legal battle in California began five years ago when the mayor of San Francisco defied the law and began issuing marriage licences to same-sex couples.
That move prompted a number of states, particularly in the southern US, to specifically ban gay marriages.
While the California supreme court struck down the marriages performed in San Francisco it opened the way for an alternative legal path to their recognition. When the issue returned to the high court last year, it upheld the right of gay couples to marry.
At the time, California became only the second state after Massachusetts to permit same-sex marriage. But since then, four others have legalised it, including the usually conservative state of Iowa, and three others are considering legislation.
Shortly before the California supreme court ruled, Jennifer Pizer, a lawyer with gay rights group Lambda Legal, which represented one of the plaintiffs in the case, told the Washington Post that it would press for another referendum. She said: “All the legal and policy and political groups feel very strongly that the sensible course would be another ballot measure to undo Proposition Eight.”
Yesterday, the mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, said: "We must resolve to overturn this decision. Let this work start today." – ( Guardianservice, Reuters)