Judge’s ruling paves way for gay marriage fight

A JUDGE has opened the way for the nation’s most populous state to follow Massachusetts in allowing same-sex couples to tie the knot, but both sides in the debate predicted a vigorous court fight first.

San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer ruled on Monday that while withholding marriage licenses from gays and lesbians has been the status quo, it constitutes discrimination the state can no longer justify.

“The state’s protracted denial of equal protection cannot be justified simply because such constitutional violation has become traditional,” Judge Kramer wrote. “Simply put, same-sex marriage cannot be prohibited solely because California has always done so before.”

Ushering out a social norm, long considered sacred, won’t happen right away, however. Judge Kramer’s decision is stayed automatically for 60 days to allow time for appeals, and conservative groups that oppose same-sex marriages vowed to uphold California’s one woman-one man marriage laws.

“For a single judge to rule there is no conceivable purpose for preserving marriage as one man and one woman is mind-boggling,” said Liberty Counsel president Mathew Staver, whose group represents the Campaign for California Families, which joined the state’s attorney general’s office in defending California’s existing laws.

“This decision will be gasoline on the fire of the pro-marriage movement in California as well as the rest of the country,” he said. Supporters of same-sex marriage said they are prepared for a lengthy appeal process, but described Judge Kramer’s ruling as an unqualified victory. They compared it to the 1948 state Supreme Court decision that made California the first state to legalise inter-racial marriage.

“Today’s ruling is an important step toward a more fair and just California that rejects discrimination and affirms family values for all California families,” San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said.

Same-sex couples have argued that denying marriage to same-sex couples violated their civil rights.

The two groups opposed to gay marriage rights argued California has a legitimate interest in restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples as a way of encouraging procreation.

Judge Kramer disagreed.

“One does not have to be married in order to procreate, nor does one have to procreate in order to be married. Thus, no legitimate state interest to justify the preclusion of same-sex marriage can be found.”