States Urge Calif. To Delay Gay Marriage

Other Attorneys General Claim Interest In Case, Push Court To Delay Final Ruling

(AP)  The attorneys general of 10 states have joined conservative legal groups in urging the California Supreme Court to delay finalizing its ruling to legalize same-sex marriages.

In a friend-of-the-court brief filed late Thursday, the attorneys general said they have an interest in the case because they would have to determine whether their states should recognize the marriages of gay residents who got married in California.

The states involved are Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah. Except for Florida and New Hampshire, all of them have state constitutional provisions banning gay marriage.

The attorneys general asked the California high court to stay its May 15 ruling until after the November election, when California's voters likely will decide whether to adopt a similar amendment, which would overturn the court's decision. The court's decisions normally take effect after 30 days.

What happens in California is being watched carefully elsewhere because unlike Massachusetts, the only U.S. state where same-sex couples can now marry, California does not have a residency requirement for obtaining a marriage license.

"We reasonably believe an inevitable result of such 'marriage tourism' will be a steep increase in litigation of the recognition issue in our courts," Utah Attorney General Mark L. Shurtleff wrote in the brief submitted on behalf of the 10 states.

New York Gov. David Paterson, meanwhile, has indicated that the state plans to recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions, meaning New Yorkers who get married in California would be entitled to spousal support, and other marriage rights at home.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown, whose office originally argued to uphold the state's one man-one woman marriage laws, submitted its own brief Thursday urging the Supreme Court not to grant the stay.

"The Court has declared the law governing the right of same-sex couples to marry, and the Attorney General undertakes to give effect to that declaration with no less vigor than he previously sought to give effect to the statutes in dispute," Brown's brief states. "It is time for these proceedings to end."

The Supreme Court has until the close of business on June 16 to decide on the stay request, but it also could give itself a 60-day extension to consider the matter. The California Office of Vital Records informed local officials this week they can start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on June 17, barring further instructions from the court.

"The court's decision firmly establishes there is a fundamental right to marriage equality for same-sex couples under the California Constitution," said San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, whose office joined two dozen same-sex couples in bringing the lawsuit that led to the court's 4-3 decision. "To deny that fundamental right based on speculation about what might happen in November is terribly inappropriate."

Ron Prentice, chairman of the coalition sponsoring the proposed California Marriage Protection Act, said he welcomed having other states support the stay request.

"Redefining marriage will affect the entire nation, not just California," Prentice said. "There is no good reason for these four judges to create nationwide chaos when a ballot measure to reverse the decision is pending before the voters."

More than 9,500 same-sex couples have wed in Massachusetts since gay marriage was legalized in 2004 by the state's high court.

The California ruling is considered monumental because of the state's population - 38 million out of a U.S. population of 302 million - and its historical role as the vanguard of many social and cultural changes that have swept the country since World War II.

California has an estimated 108,734 same-sex households, according to 2006 census figures.

Four states - Vermont, New Jersey, Connecticut and New Hampshire recognize same-sex civil unions. Hawaii, Maine, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia offer domestic partnership or reciprocal benefits laws that provide some marriage-like rights to same-sex couples.

Voters in 26 states have approved state constitutional amendments that ban gay marriage.

Hawaii voters approved a constitutional amendment empowering the legislature to outlaw same-sex marriage; lawmakers did so in 1998.

[hepaiditall]

I''m sorry, I meant "small" not "smile".

[hepaiditall]

It all boils down to choice. We all choose who we will become regardless of what has happened to us. We can all say that we are a particular way because we were born way. But the truth is you made the choice. And whatever choices we make, we must live with it.

When I was raped, I had to choice to go on or remain held hostage. I chose to let it all go. Was what happened cruel? Yes! Just as all abuse is. But I still had the choice to forgive or not. I chose to forgive.

Every person, regardless of the choices they make, should be treated with respect and dignity. No one has the right to name call or bully. God loves us all. He is not a respector of people. But He is a respector of principles.

So remember that when we make choices, we choose the consequences of our choices. Choose wisely people. Choose wisely. What decisions we make, no matter how smile, will always affect someone else.

[hippychicky-2009]

Gayness is a sexual Preference, a way someone wants to have ***.

It is a deviate of normal, and physically incorrect.

Posted by seah5

So clearly when you were little someone programmed you to be straight, and think that g a y is a choice. I feel sorry for you.
To be ridiculed, to not have the same rights as every other american, to be called names, and be persecuted againest....
Yeah sounds like a choice I would make...

[flabear2]

To think...Colorado just passed an expanded non-discrimination act.

*Sigh* Small steps...

[simonsez40]

Posted by liselle3

Well said - I''ve been saying that on this board for eons and small-minded people just repeat over and over what they''ve heard growing up or in their churches..........

[armydog2]

To all the morons trying to pretend to take the moral high ground, what do you care if *** want to marry? What frightens you so much about the fact that two people of the same s-e-x love each other and want to commit to each other and spend their lives together?Are you all that insecure about your own sexuality?

[honestabe8]

kansas: i never understood why people feel that sexual orientation is a choice. i dona''t get it, who would make this "choice"?

[kansas1946]

seah5 your logic is completely flawed... rape, pedophilia and insest are crimes, with victims who have been subjected to abuse without their consent. It is the same as saying that 90% of insest and pedophilia cases are ~90% male on female, therefore straights should be outlawed. Pretty stupid when you really think about is isn''''t it?



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by liselle3 at 05:47 PM : Jun 01, 2008
****************************

Exactly, liselle. And don''t you love the part about the children. If it isn''t far-left whackos crying abou the children, it is the far-right whackos. I have always thought it was "OK" for g a y people to be together, I never thought there was anything wrong with it, (since I was a child and understood what g a y was) and I never even considered changing my orientation. In fact, I doube that anyone can change their orientation. It is a red herring and the ''phobes use the children constantly to promote their fear and hatred.

[kansas1946]

And I bet everyone of those states scream bloody murder if they feel their "state''s rights" are being messed with. They need to shut up and mind their own business and leave California alone. With all of the problems we have in this country, having Jane and Barbara married doesn''t affect me or my family one iota. Lord, can''t people grow up.

[liselle3]

seah5 your logic is completely flawed... rape, pedophilia and insest are crimes, with victims who have been subjected to abuse without their consent. It is the same as saying that 90% of insest and pedophilia cases are ~90% male on female, therefore straights should be outlawed. Pretty stupid when you really think about is isn''t it?

[seah5]

Gayness is a sexual Preference, a way someone wants to have ***.

It is a deviate of normal, and physically incorrect.

The scary part is the minds of children are being influenced with the idea that this is ok. Kids going though puberty are getting caught in it. They didn''t even have a chance.



What is next in the legal lines, incest, Prostitution, pedophile, Beastily, Rape, polygyny, polyandry,etc.?

Where does it end?

[liselle3]

honestabe8 thank you!
What no one ever wants to discuss is the fact that straght people have made a mockery of marriage. with a divorce rate greater than 50%, children left in one parent household, etc. etc. (I could go on and on) - these sanctamonious, judgemental small minded people want to lynch homosexuals for their "sin". I say folks look in your own backyards, you''ll find your own little mess. Picking on *** is simply an issue of pecking order, and cruelty. *** are today what Blacks and Jews and many other minorities have experienced in their history. People are not happy unless they have a group that they perceieve themselves to be better than. Pretty it up with biblical, moral and social stances, and it still is what it is - the majority thinking they have a right to legislate and dictate to the minority.

[honestabe8]

...approve of or not approve of. As it should be. Does gay marriage make a mockery of marriage any more than "who wants to marry a millionaire" or what straights (myself included) have done to the institution?

[honestabe8]

BBrundj: I agree that it is impossible for people to change their orientation. Yet there are some posters here who seem to think that orientation is a choice. As a straight male, I do not think that that passes the common sense test. Who would choose this. In terms of a high power people have their own idea of what a higher power would

[bbrundj]

It''s not smart, wise, natural, healthy (mental and/or physical), practical, sanctimonious or popular. It''s absolutely impossible to change one''s orientation, but getting married is a travesty to anything people perceive as their higher power. California is setting too liberal a detrimental policy. It''s a mockery of marriage. Call it something else, but not marriage. If *** are so clever, let them put a different label on a heterosexual-based institution.

[honestabe8]

"WHY LEGITIMIZE AND PROMOTE PERVERSION THAT IS ROOTED IN SEXUAL ABUSE?" Er. .because the church is a powerful institution?

[floydzeppl]

Evangelicals: Can''t control their own lives so they insist on trying to control others''.

What a hoot.

[underdogus]

j-whitman you support Jihadist, now homosexuals too?

[ubrew12]

bajajohn1 said: "The state is sanctioning the concept of ''''choice" in personal relations. "
Exactly. The state should NEVER be in that position. That''s what personal CHOICE means. A choice that hurts no-one but yourself (if that) is EXACTLY the kind of freedom our founders fought to establish. It''s precisely the kind of freedom we should be willing to fight to defend.

But no, lets sacrifice our boys and girls defending ''democracy'' in Iraq. LOL. This country has become such a joke.

[j-whitman]

underdogus,,,,, Stop Hating Americans