Free Republic

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Gays and lesbians won a major legal victory Wednesday when the California Supreme Court let stand a new law granting registered domestic partners many of the same rights and protections of heterosexual marriage. Without comment, the unanimous justices upheld appellate and trial court rulings that the sweeping measure does not conflict with a voter-approved initiative defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Justice Janice Rogers Brown, who leaves Thursday to join the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, did not vote. The domestic partner law, which was signed in...

(Talon News) -- Homosexual advocates in California are hailing a new law that went into effect on January 1 that established "gay marriage" in the state. Assembly Bill 205 grants "all rights, protections, and benefits" of married couples to registered domestic partners. The new law was authored by lesbian Assembly member Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles) and passed in 2003. It was supported by 66 out of 73 Democratic legislators, opposed by every Republican legislator, and signed by former Gov. Gray Davis shortly before he was recalled. A Sacramento Superior Court judge, Loren McMaster, ruled that the law should take effect...

"... same-sex marriage has advanced so far as an issue that even Republicans like Knight, a senator from Palmdale, seem to be changing their minds. In 2000, California voters overwhelmingly approved Knight’s Proposition 22, which said the state would recognize only marriages between a man and a woman. Knight once wouldn’t even consider civil unions and expanded rights for domestic partners, but now he’s willing to compromise--under certain conditions. Since Proposition 22 passed in 2000, he's seen its power erode--most notably when his gay son recently got married in San Francisco. Today, Knight says he might be willing to accept...

<p>A California judge has ruled that the state can begin implementing its sweeping domestic partnership law next month, despite legal protests that the new law illegally creates same-sex "marriage."</p> <p>Sacramento Superior Court Judge Thomas Cecil's decision Thursday was hailed as a victory by homosexual rights groups. But traditional values groups, which are suing to block the new law, were heartened that Judge Cecil did not throw out their case altogether.</p>

A California lawmaker and a non-profit group are suing Gov. Gray Davis for allegedly usurping the rights of Californians by signing a bill that awards virtually all the rights of marriage to same-sex partners. State Senator William Knight and the Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund argue bill AB 205 – signed Friday at the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center – nullifies many aspects of Proposition 22, a ballot initiative approved three years ago by a 2-1 margin. The initiative, passed in March 2000, said marriage in California is valid only between one man and...

In response to Gov. Gray Davis' signing of the bill, state Sen. Pete Knight, R-Palmdale, filed a lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court to stop the implementation of the new law providing most marriage rights to domestic partners. Knight cited Proposition 22, the ballot initiative voters approved in 2000 confirming that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in the state of California," as the basis for the lawsuit. The lawsuit argues the bill violates the state constitution because of Proposition 22, which Knight wrote. It names Davis, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley and two...