San Francisco Sues California Over Gay Wedding Ban

[LiviaOlivia]

February 19, 2004
By REUTERS
Filed at 9:06 p.m. ET

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco, the city where nearly 3.000 same-sex couples have married since last week, asked a court on Thursday to strike down California laws restricting marriage to a man and a woman that the city has been openly defying.

The lawsuit asks the San Francisco County Superior Court to rule that three sections of the California Family Code prohibiting same-sex marriage run counter to the state constitution's guarantee of equal rights, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said.

The suit is also aimed at Proposition 22, a ballot initiative restricting marriage to a man and a woman that became law in 2000 after voters overwhelmingly approved it.

Herrera said the laws violate the equal protection clause of the California constitution by discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender.

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http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-rights-gays-sanfrancisco.html