California: Landmark Bills for Gays and Lesbians Signed into Law

[sandra]

A major victory for gay rights supporters.

Governor Schwarzenegger signed two laws into bill today.

The first bill recognizes contributions of slain civil rights leader Harvey Milk.

The Harvey Milk Day bill marks the first time that a state will officially recognize and celebrate the contributions of an openly gay person.

The Marriage Recognition and Family Protection Act was also signed today.

The new law recognizes same-sex couples who were married before Proposition 8 overturned gay marriages.

It recognizes them as married spouses and gives them all the rights and responsibilities as any other married couple would have under California law.

[sandra]

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed legislation that recognizes same-sex marriages legally performed in other states during the five-month window when they were legal in California. (Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press)


Senate Bill 54 by Democratic Sen. Mark Leno from San Francisco resolves uncertainty about how California will treat same-sex couples who married out of state from mid-June — when the California Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal — to Nov. 5, 2008, when voters approved Proposition 8.

The bill requires California to recognize all same-sex marriages performed in states where gay marriage is legal, but does not recognize those performed outside the window as “marriage.” These couples will have the same rights and responsibilities as couples who are married, with the sole exception of using the legal designation, “marriage.”

“As required by Proposition 8, California will not recognize such couples as ‘married,’” Schwarzenegger said in his bill-signing statement. “In short, this measure honors the will of the people in enacting Proposition 8 while providing important protections to those unions legally entered into in other states.”

[WSJ_law_blog]

The January trial date for the challenge to California’s Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage, was already on the LB’s white board, since we anticipate it to be big legal news. But after this week, we might have to hunt down that oft-lost eraser, as a federal judge will consider a motion Wednesday that could scrap the trial and, as the San Jose Mercury News puts it here, could “put a quick end to the effort to overturn the anti-gay marriage law.

The challenge to Prop 8 is being brought by a legal team that includes former Solicitor General Ted Olson and trial lawyer David Boies. For previous LB coverage, click here, here and here.

But Prop 8 supporters, including the conservative Alliance Defense Fund, say there’s no need for trial, citing U.S. Supreme Court precedent, among other things.”They simply can’t win under relevant controlling law here,” Jim Campbell, a staff attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, told the Mercury News.

According to the story:

Proposition 8’s defenders are relying on two central arguments to get the challenge tossed out of court. The first argument is that the lawsuit fails to prove a violation of any constitutional rights because of what Proposition 8 defenders insist is a deeply rooted tradition of reserving marriage for heterosexual couples.

In addition, they argue that a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court precedent resolves the case, an argument legal experts say does complicate the judge’s decision. In that case, Baker v. Nelson, the U.S. Supreme Court, without comment, let stand a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that rejected a legal challenge to a Minnesota law limiting marriage to a union between a man and a woman. That case also argued the law violated federal equal protection rights.

Still, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker has so far indicated that he’s leaning toward a trial, believing a full record is needed for a case that could end up before the High Court, observers say. For more reading, click here for a column about Judge Walker’s recent ruling that Proposition 8 backers must release internal campaign documents to the public.

Also, Gov. Arnold Schwarenegger signed a bill Sunday that requires California to recognize marriages performed in other states where same sex marriage is legal. According to the Sacremento Bee, “in a signing message, Schwarzenegger said California will not recognize the couples as married but will `provide the same legal protections that would otherwise be available to couples that enter into civil unions or domestic partnerships out-of-state. In short, this measure honors the will of the People in enacting Proposition 8 while providing important protections to those unions legally entered into in other states.’ ” Here’s the story.