Karen England is executive director of Capitol Resource Institute, a pro-family organization in Sacramento, California. Its website is at: www.capitolresource.org.
Although much of Capitol Research Institute's communication this year concerning homosexual marriage has focused on AB 43, California legislation that would create "gender-neutral" marriage between "any two persons," it is important for concerned citizens to remember that California's highest court will be deciding this issue as well.
The case before the California Supreme Court is a challenge by homosexual activists to Proposition 22, the ballot initiative passed by nearly two-thirds of California voters in 2000. Prop. 22 states simply that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."
In a move that surprised lawyers on both sides, the court recently submitted additional questions to the parties and asked for further briefing.
The court specifically asked whether California's domestic partnership law provides all the legal benefits of marriage and whether the term "marriage" itself has special legal significance. This seems to indicate that the justices are trying to determine whether the domestic partnership law makes homosexual marriage unnecessary.
The San Francisco city attorney, one of the parties challenging Prop. 22, acknowledged that the domestic partnership law does in fact provide most if not all the state benefits of marriage, but opined that it does not accord homosexual couples "the universal recognition by society of what that relationship means."
The other questions asked by the court concern 1) whether the Constitution permits the legislature to call marriage by some other name, 2) asking the lawyers to address the fundamental constitutional "right to marry," and 3) asking for a discussion of whether Prop. 22 should be interpreted as prohibiting California from recognizing homosexual marriages performed in other jurisdictions as well as same-sex unions performed in-state.
The additional questions submitted by the court make it unlikely that the justices will actually hear the case this year.
Marriage is between one man and one woman. The people of California have already decided that. It is not for judges or the legislature to overturn the will of the people and make decisions based on their own political viewpoints.
Karen England is executive director of Capitol Resource Institute, a pro-family organization in Sacramento, California. Its website is at: