Judge Denies Immediate Stay of Gay Unions Unions

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Judge Denies Immediate Stay of Gay Unions

 

By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer

 

SAN FRANCISCO - Gay and lesbian couples won another reprieve Friday when a judge

declined to immediately stop San Francisco from granting them marriage licenses, saying

conservative groups failed to prove the weddings would cause irreparable harm.

 

Judge Ronald Evans Quidachay denied the Campaign

for California Families' request for a temporary restraining

order, but said the group had the right to a hearing on

their argument that the city is violating state law.

 

The conservative group argued that the weddings

harmed all the Californians who voted in 2000 for

Proposition 22, which defined marriage as between a

man and a woman.

 

The judge suggested that the rights of the gay and

lesbian couples appeared to be more substantial.

 

"If the court has to weigh rights here, on the one hand

you are talking about voting rights, and on the other you

are talking about equal rights," Quidachay said.

 

Quidachay consolidated the Campaign for California

Families' lawsuit against the city with one filed by another

conservative group, and told lawyers for both sides to

work out between themselves when the next hearing

would be held.

 

Mathew Staver, a lawyer representing the Campaign for

California Families, said he believes the court ultimately

will find that Mayor Gavin Newsom acted illegally when he

started the process last week.

 

"He can't decide to grant same-sex marriage licenses any

more than he can declare war against a foreign country,"

Staver said.

 

But chief deputy city attorney Therese Stewart said the failure of conservative opponents

to win emergency injunctions demonstrates that the city has a strong case.

 

"Both judges really recognized there is nobody who is hurt by allowing gay people to

marry," Stewart said.

 

Newsom remained defiant before the ruling, officiating at the wedding of one of California's

most prominent lesbian politicians inside his offices at City Hall.

 

A crowd of politicians and lawyers celebrated that wedding as other gays and lesbians,

prepared to join the more than 3,000 same-sex couples allowed to marry so far.

 

About 25 anti-gay-marriage protesters later blocked the door of the county clerk's office,

lying down in front of the line and singing religious songs. Gays and lesbians responded

by belting out "The Star-Spangled Banner" until sheriff's deputies escorted the protesters

out. No arrests were made.

 

Most Americans remain opposed to same-sex marriages. A poll out Friday indicated that 50

percent of Californians remain opposed, but that sympathy for allowing gays and lesbians

to marry has risen by 6 percentage points over the last four years, to 44 percent.

 

In the San Francisco Bay area, 58 percent of all respondents support gay marriage,

according to the Public Policy Institute of California poll, which was based on a statewide

survey taken Feb. 8-16 and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

 

California's two senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, both San Francisco

Democrats, expressed opposition to the city's stand.

 

Feinstein noted that California voters four years ago overwhelmingly approved a measure

that says only marriages between men and women are valid.

 

"If the mayor believes that law is unconstitutional, the place to go is the court," Feinstein

said. "I believe this makes the national situation much more complicated and gives

ammunition to those who are pushing for a constitutional amendment."

 

While defending its new marriage policy in court, the city also is suing the state,

challenging its gay-marriage ban. The city contends the ban violates the equal protection

clause of the California Constitution.

 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) said that the state will reject the city's

same-sex marriage certificates.

 

On Friday morning, Newsom officiated at the wedding of Carole Migden, who leads the

state's Board of Equalization, and her partner of 19 years, criminal defense attorney Cris

Arguedas.

 

As to whether the city would comply with a judicial order to stop the weddings, the mayor

said: "We'll do what's right."

 

In New Mexico, meanwhile, the Sandoval County clerk issued marriage licenses Friday

to 26 gay couples, some of whom then exchanged vows outside the courthouse, as more

same-sex couples lined up for a chance to tie the knot. But the office later said the

licenses were invalid, after the state's attorney general issued an opinion.