[Mb-civic] Calif. Senate Passes Gay Marriage Bill - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Calif. Senate Passes Gay Marriage Bill
Move Is the First by a State Legislative Body Without a Court Order

By Joe Dignan and Amy Argetsinger
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 2, 2005; Page A02

SACRAMENTO, Sept. 1 -- The California Senate voted Thursday to allow gay 
couples to wed, becoming the first legislative body in the nation to 
approve same-sex marriage without a court order.

The bill would recast the state's legal definition of marriage as a 
union between two people rather than one between a man and a woman.

Yet it faces an uncertain future: The California Assembly narrowly 
rejected similar legislation in June, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) 
has given mixed or ambiguous responses on whether he would support or 
veto such a bill.

Still, its passage, on a vote of 21 to 15, was hailed by advocates as a 
breakthrough for gay rights.

"It will totally take away the argument that it is just 'activist 
judges' who are finding for marriage nondiscrimination," said Geoff 
Kors, the head of Equality California. "It's the people's 
representatives in the largest state in the nation doing this."

Opponents deemed it an "arrogant" move in defiance of a voter-approved 
law limiting marriage rights to male-female couples. "Twenty-one 
Democrats in the Senate took it upon themselves to redefine marriage," 
said Benjamin Lopez, a lobbyist for the Traditional Values Coalition, 
"and they're saying that 4.6 million Californians are wrong."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/01/AR2005090102086.html
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