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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed two gay rights bills, one honoring late activist Harvey Milk and another recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. In the last of hundreds of bill actions taken before midnight Sunday, Schwarzenegger approved the two bills by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. The governor last year vetoed the measure declaring May 22 a state day of recognition for Milk, suggesting that the former San Francisco supervisor be honored locally. But he subsequently named him to the California Hall of Fame. Leno's SB 54, meanwhile, requires California to recognize marriages performed in other states where same...

DALY CITY — Every other minute, the Cow Palace marquee flashes, "Gun Show Coming, Gun Show Coming." That's a message that must stop, state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, said Friday in a news conference announcing the reintroduction of a bill intended to end gun shows at the venue. "It's astounding a state-owned property is being used to promote weapons of death," Leno said. "We know they're used legally, but in a neighborhood that experiences unconscionable rates of gun violence, it's just maddening." Crossroads of the West Gun Show is scheduled to take place at the Cow Palace on May...

San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno used an overwhelming showing in his home city Tuesday to beat former San Rafael Assemblyman Joe Nation and incumbent state Sen. Carole Migden in the Democratic primary for her three-county state Senate seat. With 81 percent of the precincts reporting, Leno had 43 percent of the vote, Nation 29 percent and Migden 28 percent. Leno beat Nation by about 25,000 votes in San Francisco and held Nation's margin of victory in his home base of Marin County to fewer than 3,000 votes. Although Leno still has to face Republican Sashi McEntee of Mill Valley in...

State regulators have slapped state Sen. Carole Migden and her managers with a $350,000 fine for 89 campaign spending and disclosure violations between 2003 and 2007, including illegal personal use of campaign funds. The state's Fair Political Practices Commission on Tuesday released details of the San Francisco Democrat's transgressions, which also included misrepresenting spending, soliciting donations prior to establishing campaign accounts, and failure to adequately disclose contributions and expenses. The fines come as Migden is locked in a tough re-election battle, facing two fellow Democrats in the June 3 primary, Assemblyman Mark Leno of San Francisco and former Assemblyman Joe...

Bill of the Week- Harvey Milk Day (Leno) Last week Assemblyman Mark Leno and homosexual advocacy group Equality California (the organization that sponsored SB 777) announced that the assemblyman would introduce and carry a new bill that will establish a state holiday honoring Harvey Milk. Most citizens have no idea who Mr. Milk is or why he deserves a special state-recognized holiday. For some, Harvey Milk is considered a "civil rights" leader for his work in advancing homosexual "rights" in California. A resident of the infamous Castro district in San Francisco, Milk was one of the first homosexual elected officials...

As sharp as partisan political battles can be, nothing surpasses a full-blown shootout between members of the same party for sheer nastiness. Their ideological differences tend to be small and, therefore, their intraparty duels often turn personal. The increasingly shrill level of personal invective being thrown in the multi-candidate tussles for next year's presidential nominations of both parties illustrates the point. But in California, the syndrome is most evident in the overwhelmingly Democratic San Francisco Bay Area, which is renowned for sharp-elbow politics, and in Los Angeles. Bay Area voters may experience two nasty clashes next year as state Sen....

Many groups tell their followers to contact Schwarzenegger about a same-sex marriage bill on his desk -- With the regular legislative session complete, the battle over eight gay rights bills, including one allowing same-sex marriage, has moved directly to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office.Religious-based critics have asked volunteers to repeatedly dial the Republican governor to voice their opposition to the measures. In one e-mail, the Campaign for Children and Families asks supporters to call and write Schwarzenegger, with one piece of additional advice: "Don't forget to pray to God."At the same time, Oakland-based Marriage Equality USA organized statewide rallies Tuesday in...

If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger goes through with his expected veto of San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno's measure to allow same-sex marriage in California, it's almost guaranteed the governor will say he's following "the will of the people." That's the argument the Republican governor made two years ago when he rejected a similar measure. Although Schwarzenegger hasn't taken an official position on the new bill, he made clear in February that he did not intend to sign it. "I don't want, as the governor, to go against the will of the people," Schwarzenegger said at an event put on by the...

Sacramento -- For the second time in three years, the state legislature has approved a measure giving same-sex couples the right to marry in California, with today's Senate vote split along party lines and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger expected to veto the bill as he did in 2005. "Marriage is more than just a civil contract ... it is different from domestic partners, it's just different from civil unions - it means something," said Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, who presented the bill and was also the first openly gay person to be elected to the legislature. "And because it means...

As the 2007 legislative session begins its final throes, the annual duel between homosexual rights groups and their conservative foes is being rejoined. The former have already scored one victory in the much-delayed budget that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed last month, a first-ever appropriation for aid to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) victims of domestic violence. "These types of government and nonprofit partnerships have for many years kept many Californians healthy, safe and self-sufficient, and for the first time the California budget includes such funds for LGBT- specific services," Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, declared after the...

S.F. lawmaker holds event a day before panel he chairs will deal with billions in spending. Assemblyman Mark Leno sparked ethical questions Wednesday by holding a $1,000-per-person fundraising event just one day before the committee he chairs decides the fate of more than 600 bills totaling $8 billion in spending."To be honest with you, it just doesn't pass the smell test," said Hector Barajas, California Republican Party spokesman.Carmen Balber, of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, said the group is pushing legislation in Leno's committee to slow health insurance rate hikes. "You have to raise the question: Is health-insurer...

Sacramento,California -- A Democrat-controlled committee in the California Legislature has passed full-blown homosexual "marriages." Tuesday's vote by the Assembly Judiciary Committee was 7 to 3, with all Democrats in favor of so-called "same-sex marriages" and all Republicans supporting real marriage between a man and a woman. "Shame on the Democrat politicians for attacking and redefining marriage," said Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families (CCF), a leading nonpartisan California organization defending marriage and family, who today testified in committee against AB 43. "This is an attack upon the voters and our system of government as much as it...

SACRAMENTO- Supporters will renew their efforts this week to legalize gay marriages in California, but there seems to be little doubt that the outcome will be a rerun—another veto by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Assemblyman Mark Leno, the San Francisco Democrat who introduced the gay marriage bill that Schwarzenegger vetoed in 2005, said he is confident lawmakers will send the measure to the Republican governor again this year. "We're hopeful that he will understand why it's important that he end the second-class treatment of countless California families and children," Leno said. The bill is scheduled to be considered Tuesday by the...

An unprecedented political race in the Bay Area pits two prominent gay politicians -- also both Democrats -- against one another for the same state Senate seat in California. The election isn't until next year, but Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, will need all that time if he wants to become known in the state Senate district which is split evenly between San Francisco, Marin, and Sonoma counties. But the real split is with his gay colleague, who he's trying to knock out of office: incumbent State Sen. Carole Migden. Leno will be termed-out in 2008, but Migden will not...

A looming battle between two of San Francisco's best-known gay and lesbian officeholders already is splitting the Bay Area's Democratic faithful more than a year before their June 2008 face-off. Assemblyman Mark Leno, 55, is taking on state Sen. Carole Migden in her bid for re-election, and plenty of Democrats are unhappy at the prospect of two powerful progressives duking it out in a bloody party primary. In a statement after Leno's public announcement earlier this month, state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, urged Leno to reconsider. Or else. "I am disappointed by Mark Leno's challenge of a...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Log Cabin Republicans at the state capitol are putting pressure on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign a gay marriage bill this year, NBC11's Mike Luery reported. "When it comes to marriage, we believe in the fundamental fairness of the American people. There has never been a major civil rights movement that has failed in the United States," said statewide director of the Log Cabin Republicans, James Vaughn. The Log Cabin Republicans said they see marriage equality as a civil rights issue, Luery reported. They equate it to the racial equality movement promoted by Abraham Lincoln, the log...

Monday December 04, 2006 By SAMANTHA YOUNG and DON THOMPSON Associated Press Writers SACRAMENTO (AP) -- California's newly sworn Legislature on Monday picked up where the old one left off, introducing an emotional bill to legalize gay marriage and delving into a power struggle over Central Valley flooding. While legislative leaders struck a bipartisan tone for the session that gets under way in January, rank and file members revived bills that have divided the Capitol. Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, reintroduced legislation that would allow gay couples to marry in the state of California. And Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco,...

The debate over gay marriage is back after a year's hiatus, and this time supporters are hopeful the political climate has changed since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in 2005. San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno, a Democrat who is openly gay, announced he will introduce a new marriage bill Monday, when legislators are sworn in for the upcoming session. ..... `The governor's position,'' she said, ``hasn't changed.'' ``To continue to push for full-blown gay marriage licenses is unlawful, unconstitutional and undemocratic,'' Thomasson said. ``The California Constitution specifically prohibits the Legislature from repealing voter-approved initiatives. This...

A San Francisco assemblyman will introduce new legislation to allow gay marriage when the Legislature reconvenes for its new session Monday. Democratic Assemblyman Mark Leno said his bill will be nearly identical to one vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in September 2005. California law currently does not permit gay marriage, but many of the same rights and responsibilities are granted to gay couples who register with the state as domestic partners.

SAN FRANCISCO — Five months ago, state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata had called November's infrastructure bond package "a textbook example of bipartisan cooperation." Perata, D-Oakland, and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that day on the Oakland International Airport tarmac. Perata said lawmakers "weren't sent to Sacramento to be stalking horses for anybody running for office," and Nunez said, "Don't underestimate the role that the governor played." But the governor's name barely was mentioned Friday as prominent Democrats, union members and others rallied for the bond package at Pier 30, just south...

When Leno read in Saturday's Chronicle that Mary Canavan, a lifelong Democrat, was "almost certain" to vote for Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, he found her number in directory assistance and called her at home, giving her a 15-minute pitch for Angelides. It wasn't only Leno who took the Berkeley woman to task about her planned vote for the governor, she said. "I got a lot of e-mails from friends, some saying 'I agree' and others saying 'Have you thought about this?' '' Canavan said at the rally. She admitted she was disappointed with the showing of the Democratic Party and...

Democrat Phil Angelides is one vote closer to being governor of California, thanks to San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno and a wavering Berkeley real estate agent. When Leno read in Saturday's Chronicle that Mary Canavan, a lifelong Democrat, was "almost certain" to vote for Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, he found her number in directory assistance and called her at home, giving her a 15-minute pitch for Angelides. Leno took his one-on-one political campaign to Canavan because "I'm just so frustrated that there could be a question in the mind of any Democrat about who to vote for in November,'' the...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger got off to a fast start in his annual September Veto Parade yesterday by saying he would reject state Sen. Sheila Kuehl's nonsensical, poorly drafted bill mandating that California adopt socialized medicine. It is a sad commentary on the Legislature that Kuehl's bill made it this far. Perhaps the governor next can tackle measures that are, respectively, anti-consumer, anti-common sense and pro-corruption. AB 2592, by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would allow car-rental companies to omit the cost of airport fees when advertising rental rates. How does Leno – who sees himself as a classic liberal do-gooder...

If you're looking for a gay candidate to vote for in this fall's California legislative races, there are several out there. But they're more likely to be Republicans than Democrats. GOP voters nominated five openly gay candidates in Assembly races. But all five will face general elections in urban districts with heavy Democratic registration advantages. This group includes William Chan in Sacramento (AD 9), Ralph Denney in northern San Diego (AD 76), Brenda Carol Green in South Central Los Angeles (AD 48), Mark Patrosso in San Jose (AD 23), and Steven Mark Sion in West Hollywood (AD 42). Only Denney...

California's landmark efforts to increase solar power, supported by environmentalists, state leaders and the governor, could be in peril. In the next few months, PG&E, the largest utility company in the state, will reach the cap on how much solar energy it will buy back from customers. If the Legislature fails to pass a new bill raising that cap, new solar users in PG&E's territory won't be eligible for the benefits currents users enjoy, which some fear could bring the rise of solar energy in California to a grinding halt. "It will destroy the industry," said Ken Adelman, a retired...

Late last week, while the media focused on his veto of the same-sex marriage proposal, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill intended to protect gay men and lesbians against discriminatory business practices. Apparently, not too many people noticed. Assembly Bill 1400, the Civil Rights Act of 2005, authored by Central Coast lawmaker John Laird, will expand anti-discrimination codes by including sexual orientation in the law. It builds upon the Unruh Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, or medical condition. Laird’s bill forbids all businesses that provide services, goods or accommodations...

For years, California politicians have touted crackdowns on sex criminals to promote themselves as tough on crime. But recently, in a riveting investigative series, The Sacramento Bee confirmed what many had feared: California has among the most lenient laws in the nation toward sexually violent predators, society's life-wreckers. Gaping loopholes in California law let hard-core sex criminals committed to Atascadero State Hospital choose whether they want treatment. Almost none choose treatment, and after a breezy two-year stint, they are released from Atascadero — usually unmonitored, by lax courts. As the Bee noted, the loophole is "precisely how 54 rapists and...

The Sacramento Bee has recently published a series of articles highlighting our state’s many shortcomings when it comes to how we deal with sexually violent predators. These articles prompted an epiphany by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez that we need to change how we deal with these dangerous felons. And if he is truly serious about reform, there is no way he can allow Mark Leno to continue to sit as chairman for the Assembly Public Safety Committee. Read More... Craig DeLuz Visit The Home of Uncommon Sense... www.craigdeluz.com

With the scheduled execution of Stanley Tookie Williams approaching and no word from the governor on Williams' clemency request, prominent death penalty opponents gathered in San Francisco on Sunday to make final appeals for the gang co-founder's life. Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, and Sister Helen Prejean, whose work against the death penalty inspired her book and a movie, both called "Dead Man Walking," spoke during an American Civil Liberties Union event at the San Francisco Marriott Hotel. They said that executing Williams would destroy one of California's most effective advocates for keeping children out of gangs.

Did you know that in California, child molesters and rapists are a protected class? It's true. Not only are California landlords banned from using the state's Megan's Law database to decline renting their properties to sex offenders, they're not even allowed to warn other tenants that these paroled criminals are now their neighbors. If they do the first, they can be fined $25,000 for housing discrimination. But if they don't do the second, they can be sued for failing to protect tenants against a known danger. Landlords are caught between a rock, a hard place and the California State Assembly's...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's vow to veto a landmark same-sex marriage proposal this week -- saying it violated the will of the people -- has prompted the bill's authors to delay delivering the bill to the governor to give gay-rights advocates two weeks to bombard him with calls, e-mails and protests in a last-ditch effort to win support. "The governor has said he supports the will of the people," said Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, one of the Legislature's six openly gay members. "Well, let the people call him, let the people e-mail him, let the people be heard. Then he...

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Wednesday that he will veto a bill seeking to allow gay marriages in California. Schwarzenegger said the legislation, given final approval Tuesday by lawmakers, would conflict with the intent of voters when they approved Proposition 22. That measure was put on the ballot in 2000 to prevent California from recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. "We cannot have a system where the people vote and the Legislature derails that vote," the governor's press secretary, Margita Thompson, said in a statement. "Out of respect for the will of the people, the governor will veto (the bill)."...

By the slimmest of margins in each house, 21-15 in the State Senate (21 votes needed for passage) and 41-35 in the State Assembly (41 votes needed for passage), the California legislature sent Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger the homosexual marriage bill, AB 849. When the governor vetoes this bill, it will cement his reelection and start his long march back to the top of the heap in California politics. Assemblyman Mark Leno’s (D-San Francisco) first attempt at passing a homosexual marriage bill, AB 19, failed twice on June 2, first on a 35 to 37 vote, then on a 37 to...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gay rights supporters cheered loudly from the gallery as California lawmakers became the first in the country to approve a bill allowing same-sex marriages. But their celebration may be short-lived. ADVERTISEMENT The legislation could be vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has expressed an acceptance of gay marriages but said it's an issue that should be decided by voters or the courts. "He will uphold whatever the court decides," spokeswoman Margita Thompson said Tuesday after the state Assembly approved the same-sex marriage measure, 41-35. The Senate had approved it last week. A state appellate court is considering...

The California Legislature on Tuesday became the first legislative body in the country to approve a bill allowing same-sex marriages, but the measure faces an uncertain future with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. There were loud cheers by gay-rights activists in the Assembly gallery as lawmakers voted 41-35 to approve the bill and send it to the governor. The Assembly had twice defeated similar legislation. A spokeswoman for the Republican governor said Schwarzenegger believes the issue should be decided by the courts, not by his signature on legislation. A state appellate court is considering appeals of a lower court ruling that overturned...

A landmark bill to legalize gay marriage passed the Assembly by a single vote Tuesday and now goes to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has not said whether he will sign it. The measure passed on a 41-to-35 votes, with no support from Republicans. The author of the bill, Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, worked desperately throughout the day to find the votes needed for passage. The Senate approved AB849 last week, marking the first time a legislative body in the country to approve a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. But supporters had a harder time mustering support in the Assembly, where...

The Assembly just passed gay marriage 41-35. The bill now goes to the Governor. Updates, and who voted how to follow on this thread

SAN FRANCISCO - Last week's state Senate vote seeking to legalize gay marriage is the latest example of the political schizophrenia that has come to define the issue in the nation's most populous state. Since 1999, when lawmakers established a registry of same-sex couples, California has been in the vanguard of extending to gay and lesbian partners nearly all the rights enjoyed by heterosexual couples. But for all the state's live-and-let-live social tolerance, voters have balked at granting gay couples the right to marry. In 2000, California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 22, which strictly defined marriage as the union of...

Leno uses 'gut and amend' technique to change contents of cohort's fisheries legislation. Sacramento -- A state Senate committee voted Tuesday to approve a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, reviving legislation declared "dead for the year" just last month after it failed to pass out of the lower house. The effort comes in the face of two previous failed attempts to pass the bill in the Legislature, a voter-approved ballot measure recognizing marriage as only between a man and a woman, and sentiment that the gay marriage movement galvanized support for President Bush in the presidential election last year. The bill's...

SACRAMENTO – Despite a defeat in the Assembly and a likely veto from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, advocates of same-sex marriage plan to revive their legislation in the Senate. Yesterday, they began using a legislative technique known as "gut and amend" to replace the provisions of an Assembly bill that's already in the Senate with provisions from the defeated same-sex marriage bill. "I can continue the fight for a critically important civil rights issue," said Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, the author of the same-sex marriage bill. "Why would I not go forward?" Gay rights advocates hope that the more liberal...

... pass the California Assembly on its first vote Wednesday evening, and it failed to pass on a second vote early Thursday morning. Conservative opponents of the bill called the development "very encouraging." AB 19 would delete "a man and a woman" from California marriage laws, defining marriage as the union of "two persons." The bill fell six votes short of passage on Wednesday and the same thing happened hours later, early Thursday morning. Both times, the vote was 37-35, as five Democrats joined all 32 Republicans in opposing AB 19. Eight Democrats abstained. "This is a tentative victory you...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - An effort to legalize gay marriage in California died Thursday after supporters could not find the votes to make the state Assembly the first legislative chamber in the nation to give same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexuals. It was the second and final time in two days the bill failed to gain the simple majority it needed to pass the 80-member house. The 37-36 tally fell four votes shy. Nearly a quarter of majority Democrats either joined Republicans in opposing the bill or chose not to take a stand on the hot-button topic, now headed for...

SACRAMENTO -- A bill to legalize same-sex marriage in California stalled on its initial vote Wednesday in the Assembly, but supporters used a parliamentary procedure to keep the measure alive while they tried to round up more votes. The bill failed on its first vote 35-37. It needed at least 41 votes to pass the 80-member house by the end of the night. Gay rights supporters hoped it would be the first time a legislative chamber in the United States voted voluntarily to put same-sex couples on equal legal footing with heterosexuals. It took a court order for Massachusetts last...

Sacramento -- Landmark votes expected this week in the Assembly on same-sex marriage and physician-assisted suicide appear so close that their outcomes could rest on a sole lawmaker's last-minute deliberations on morality, faith and the role of government in society, according to interviews with several undecided Democrats. With the Assembly poised today to take up AB19 by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, to legalize same-sex marriage in California, many Democrats said Tuesday that they remain undecided on the issue even after months of debate. With Republicans uniformly opposed to the measure, Leno said passage would likely come with only the...

No lawmaker is above the law or the people. Yet state legislators who are pushing AB 19 show no respect for the constitution, laws or people of California. AB 19, which would issue same-sex "marriage" licenses in every county in California, passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee on April 26. Coauthored by 30 Democrats, AB 19 would repeal the people's vote on marriage. Displaying these legislators' sense of superiority over the voters, AB 19 is as good or bad an example of arrogance you can find. The Democrats who have coauthored this same-sex "marriage" bill apparently think they're above the law...

Wary of legislation allowing same-sex matrimony, opponents aim for an initiative. SACRAMENTO — Opponents of gay marriage vowed Tuesday to outlaw such unions with a ballot measure next spring, saying the issue will not be resolved in the Legislature. The foes said lawmakers, who minutes earlier had advanced a bill to legalize marriage between same-sex couples, were out of step with most Californians. If the Legislature votes to allow gay marriage, said Randy Thomasson, president of the Campaign for Children and Families, it "will ignite the majority of Californians" to support a constitutional amendment that would "override the politicians." Thomasson...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The California chapter of the NAACP has endorsed a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in the state, marking the first time an arm of the venerable civil rights group has lent its political clout to the issue that has divided the black community. Members of the California State Conference of the NAACP narrowly voted at their convention last fall to support the pending "Religious Freedom and California Civil Marriage Protection Act," but the group did not make its position public until this week, in advance of the bill's first legislative hearing. "In a place like...

[Free Republic Note: For those who missed the news story (buried by US media outlets) about the rape of children and animals in East Timor by UN Peacekeepers, I suggest you first read the following article published by "The Australian" on 26-Mar-2005: Hushed rape of Timor.] US Congressional Leaders Fight for Victim's Rights in East Timor By LEIF TEEST Associated Press Staff Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation in Congress today they hope will provide relief for Jordanian UN Peacekeepers currently embroiled in an international sex scandal in East Timor. Allegedly, Jordanian peacekeepers routinely engaged in lovemaking with...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - (snip) ...Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, filed a bill that would allow gays to marry. At the urging of the coalition, Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside, and Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta, introduced constitutional amendments that would elevate the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman from statute to the constitution. Adding the language to the constitution would prevent lawmakers from changing it without approval from voters. (snip) Leno's "Marriage License Nondiscrimination Act" would amend a section of California's family code that defines marriage as "a personal relationship arising out of a civil contract...

Assembly committee backs gay marriage MAKES CALIFORNIA THE FIRST STATE HEADED TOWARD SAME-SEX MARRIAGES By Ann E. Marimow Knight Ridder Sacramento Bureau SACRAMENTO - A bill to legalize gay marriage cleared its first test Tuesday, making California's Legislature the first in the nation, proponents said, to take a step toward allowing same-sex couples to wed. ... ``By denying marriage, you are implying there is something inherently inferior and unstable about the way that I love and that's just wrong,'' said Leno, D-San Francisco. Contact Ann E. Marimow at amarimow@mercurynews.com or (916) 325-4315.