State Green Party Strongly Criticizes CA Supreme Court Ruling to Invalidate Thousands of State Same-Sex Marriages

GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release: Monday, August 13, 2004

Contacts:
Cres Vellucci, State Press Office, 916-996-1970,
Beth Moore Haines, GPCA Spokesperson, 530-277-0610,
Sara Amir, GPCA Spokesperson, 310-270-7106,

SACRAMENTO – The Green Party of California is strongly criticizing the ruling Thursday by the California Supreme Court that invalidated 4,037 same-sex marriages performed in San Francisco earlier this year.

The court ordered that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom did not have the authority to bypass a 1998 state law that defines a marriage as being between a man and woman when he instructed his staff to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The court did not address the constitutionality of the state law.

The Green Party of California platform specifically supports the right of all persons to marry, with "all the rights, benefits and responsibilities thereof, without discrimination based on sex, gender or sexual orientation." (See www.cagreens.org)

"Unlike Senator Kerry I would welcome a ruling of the United States Supreme Court recognizing that the United States Constitution protects the right to same-sex marriage. An adult has a fundamental human and federal constitutional right to marry another adult of either the same or different gender and no governmental authority should interfere with that status," said Ray Glock-Grueneich, Green candidate for Congress (17th District, Santa Cruz/Monterey/San Benito).

"If two people want to commit to one another and marry, they should not be discriminated against because of their gender. I am shocked and opposed to this arbitrary decision by the court," said Green candidate for Congress Pat Gray (8th District, San Mateo/S. San Francisco).

"The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that the Government may neither establish a State Religion nor prohibit individual religious expression. Allowing same-sex marriage – with all of the civil rights and obligations that go with it – does not violate anyone's religion because it does not force it upon anyone," said Warner S. Bloomberg III, Green candidate for Assembly District 23 (San Jose).

Many Greens are calling for support of legislation now at the State Capitol. AB 1967, the "Marriage License Non-Discrimination Act" (Assemblyman Mark Leno, D, 13th District, San Francisco), would legalize same-sex marriages in the state.

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The Green Party of California
http://www.cagreens.org
P.O. Box 2828, Sacramento, CA 95812
Phone: (916) 448-3437
gpca@greens.org