Licenses to gay couples top 2,000

The city of San Francisco has issued more than 2,000 “marriage” licenses to homosexual couples over the past four days, an act of civil disobedience that attorneys for two traditional-values groups will seek to end in court today.

San Francisco officials have vowed to keep issuing licenses until told to stop by the city’s top law-enforcement officer. The licenses are invalid under a voter-passed state initiative defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

One of the law firms appearing in court today will accuse San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and other city officials of “constitutional carnage and anarchy” for blatantly violating state law when he directed the county clerk to issue marriage licenses to homosexual couples.

“The mayor is actually usurping the roles of judges, legislators and voters. … This is not the rule of law, but personal whim,” said the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing the Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Proposition 22 is the initiative that limited marriage to heterosexual couples.

Both parties submitted briefs last night for today’s hearing.

Tamara Lange, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, which will be defending San Francisco officials such as Mr. Newsom and county clerk Nancy Alfaro, said it is illegal to treat people differently because of their sex.

“The [state] constitution promises equality for everyone — for women as compared to men and equality for gay people as compared to straight people,” Miss Lange said. “Mayor Newsom is requiring the city to stop discriminating because the California constitution prohibits this kind of discrimination.”

The state constitution always trumps a voter initiative, San Francisco city attorney Dennis Herrera told TV station KTVU yesterday.

The city’s attorneys also claim the plaintiffs have not shown that issuing licenses causes the irreparable harm necessary for a court stay.

“Same-sex couples denied the right to marry face far greater harm than the petitioners here,” the city said in its legal brief filed yesterday.

Two legal actions are expected today in San Francisco Superior Court.

This morning, Liberty Counsel, representing Campaign for California Families, will appear before Superior Court Judge Ronald Quidachay to ask for a temporary injunction on issuing licenses to same-sex couples.

Story Continues →