(e) The highest courts in three states have held that denying the legal rights and obligations of marriage to same-sex couples is constitutionally suspect or impermissible under their respective state constitutions. These states are Hawaii, Vermont, and Massachusetts. The highest courts in seven Canadian provinces have similarly ruled that marriage laws that discriminate in favor of different-sex couples to the exclusion of same-sex couples violate the rights of same-sex couples and cannot stand.
(f) California's discriminatory exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage violates the California Constitution's guarantee of due process, privacy, equal protection of the law, and free expression, by arbitrarily denying equal marriage rights to lesbian, gay, and bisexual Californians.
(g) California's discriminatory exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage harms same-sex couples and their families by denying those couples and their families specific legal rights and responsibilities under state law and by depriving members of those couples and their families of a legal basis to challenge federal laws that deny access to the many important federal benefits and obligations provided only to spouses. Those federal benefits include the right to file joint federal income tax returns, the right to sponsor a partner for immigration to the United States, the right to social security survivor's benefits, the right to family and medical leave, and many other substantial benefits and obligations.
(h) Other jurisdictions have chosen to treat as valid or otherwise recognize marriages between same-sex couples. California's discriminatory marriage law therefore also harms California's same-sex couples when they travel to other jurisdictions by preventing them from having access to the rights, benefits, and protections those jurisdictions provide only to married couples.
(i) California's discriminatory exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage further harms same-sex couples and their families by denying them the unique public recognition and affirmation that marriage confers on heterosexual couples.
This measure would amend the California Constitution to provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California, as specified. The measure would further limit the provision of the rights, responsibilities, benefits, and obligations of marriage to a man and a woman, as specified.