The California Senate, by a party line 22 to 15 vote, has just given final passage to AB 43 (Leno), The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act that would restore marriage in California as “a legal contract between two persons,” replacing the language installed by the legislature in 1977. The bill passed the Assembly in June by a 42 to 34 vote. It now goes to the Governor who has until October 14 to decide whether to sign it, veto it, or allow it to become law without his signature.
AB 43 bill redefines marriage in California as a union between two persons, making it gender-neutral, and thereby permitting same-sex marriages in the state.
It does not require any clergy or religious official to solemnize any marriage in violation of his or her right to free exercise of religion.
This bill contains a legislative finding and declaration that it does not amend or modify Section 308.5 of the California Family Code, enacted by the initiative Proposition 22, passed by the voters in 2000, that declares only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.
Section 300 of the Family Code, which is amended by this bill, provides that marriage is a personal relation arising out of a civil contract between a man and a woman, to which each of the parties capable of consenting may consent, followed by issuance of a license and solemnization as authorized. The bill changes “a man and a woman” in section 300 to “two persons.”
Senator Sheil Kuehl, who presented the bill to the Senate gave an elegant speech putting the discrimination faced by gays and lesbians under California law with that suffered by other groups and telling of her own experience in San Francisco where she officiated at same sex marriage ceremonies and saw random strangers giving flowers to couples. We will give further detail of the Senate debate later with more detail after today’s session has ended.
Census 2000 data identified 92,138 same-sex couples living in California, and as of March, the Secretary of State’s office had 43,790 domestic partner declarations filed. Many of couples are same sex.
For 127 years California marriage law was gender-neutral, containing no reference to “man” or “woman.”
Governor Schwarzenegger has vetoed similar legislation. In 2005, he vetoed AB 849, also authored by Assemblymember Leno, the first “gay marriage” bill in the nation to be passed by both houses of a state legislature. In his veto message, the Governor reiterated his belief that gay and lesbian couples should be afforded the same rights as married heterosexual couples and that he would “continue to vigorously defend” the rights afforded under the state’s domestic partnership laws.
