On Thursday, Aug. 12, the California Supreme Court ruled that San Francisco’s mayor, Gavin Newsom, exceeded his authority when he ordered the city/county clerk’s office to issue gender-neutral marriage licenses on Feb.12, which resulted in more than 4,000 same-sex couples tying the knot in the city until the courts put a stop to it March 11. The decision in Lockyer v. City and County of San Francisco, et al. effectively invalidates all of the same-sex marriage licenses issued, but does not decide the constitutional validity of same-sex marriage in the state. That issue will be decided once the various suits for and against same-sex marriage move through the lower courts.

“The invalidation of 4000-plus marriage licenses did nothing to strengthen the institution of marriage,” said Sze Tan, co-chair of the San Diego chapter of Marriage Equality California (MECA). “But we recognize that all struggles for civil rights have ups and downs and that equality doesn’t come easy. We remain hopeful since the court did not address the constitutionality of California’s marriage law. We won’t give up now and instead will turn our disappointment and frustration into action.”

In response to the ruling, The Center and MECA orchestrated a political rally and press conference explaining the implications of the decision, followed by a march from The Center to the Hillcrest post office to mail pink postcards to Gov. Schwarzenegger’s office asking him to support AB 1967, the California Marriage License Nondiscrimination Act sponsored by Assemblymembers Mark Leno.

Just under 200 people attended the rally and march, which occurred without incident.

Originally scheduled to end at Assemblymember Christine Kehoe’s office on University Avenue, the march was redirected to the post office when Kehoe was unexpectedly called away. Both Kehoe and Deputy Mayor Toni Atkins submitted letters supporting the rally, decrying the high court ruling and urging for commitment and persistence in the fight for marriage equality.

“We are asking for equal rights, not special rights,” Kehoe’s letter said.

“Keep up the good fight, San Diego; this is a battle we will win together,” Atkins’ letter concluded.

In a separate move, MECA invited all interested same-sex couples to go down to the San Diego County Clerk’s office the following Friday at 12:00 noon to ask for marriage licenses, and when turned down, submit a Certificate of Engagement to be filed as a gesture symbolic of the fight to overturn current marriage restrictions against same-sex couples.

State Attorney General Bill Lockyer and Alliance Defense Fund, a right-wing anti-gay group from Arizona that sent one of their attorneys in late June to defend a student at Poway High School who was suspended for wearing an anti-gay T-shirt, filed the lawsuit that led to Thursday’s ruling. The Liberty Council, the Campaign for California Families and the Center for Marriage Law were also involved.

The state Supreme Court issued a writ of mandate directing San Francisco officials to enforce the law, “until they are judicially determined to be unconstitutional and to take all necessary remedial steps to undo the continuing effects of the officials’ past unauthorized actions, including making appropriate corrections to all relevant official records and notifying all affected same-sex couples that the same-sex marriages authorized by the officials are void and of no legal effect.”

However, they clarified that the decision was confined strictly to Newsom’s decision and the events that unfolded as a direct result of his actions.

“To avoid any misunderstanding, we emphasize that the substantive question of the constitutional validity of California’s statutory provisions limiting marriage to a union between a man and a woman is not before our court in this proceeding, and our decision in this case is not intended, and should not be interpreted, to reflect any view on that issue,” the ruling said.

The justices went on to say that if the state ban on same-sex marriage is eventually struck down, “same-sex couples then would be free to obtain valid marriage licenses and enter into valid marriages.”

Lambda Legal, along with NCLR, the ACLU and Equality California, requested that the validity of the same-sex marriages not be decided on Thursday, because the Supreme Court refused to hear from any of the couples who obtained same-sex marriage licenses in the city when the cases were argued in May.

“We know many of the couples that are affected personally by this decision,” Tan said. “They are heartbroken to have their marriage licenses invalidated and disappointed that they didn’t even get their day in court.”

Two of those couples, of which there are approximately 60 from San Diego, talked about the impact the ruling had on them at Thursday night’s rally.

“People have asked us today how we feel about having our marriages invalidated,” said Aida Mancillas, who married longtime partner Maureen Steiner in San Francisco. “We ask them to imagine how they would feel to have their deepest commitment publicly declared a legal nonentity; to have the infrastructure of their family demeaned and dismissed; to be set apart from their fellow citizens by having their lives declared ‘less than.’ Disappointment, anger and a great sadness for this great country which has maintained its steady movement towards the expansion of civil rights, not the shutting down of them.”

If the court had not addressed the validity of the marriages, the couples could have continued to consider themselves married, because technical deficiencies in the application or processing of marriage licenses do not usually invalidate a marriage under state law, Lambda Legal said.

Lambda Legal attorneys are pushing a separate case to secure legal same-sex marriages in the state, possibly deciding the issue once and for all. This case, Woo, et al. v. Lockyer, is being heard in San Francisco Superior Court and is unaffected by Thursday’s ruling on Newsom’s actions. It is not expected to reach the Supreme Court for two years.

Other lawsuits involving same-sex relationships are pending throughout the state, including one against the country club in Rancho Bernardo that refuses to extend spousal membership to the female partner of a lesbian member, and challenges to AB 205, the Domestic Partners Rights and Responsibilities Act set to go into effect in Jan. 1, 2005.

“Despite the ruling today, we have reason for optimism,” said Dale Kelley Bankhead, co-chair of San Diegans Against Marriage Discrimination and the public affairs director of the San Diego ACLU, at Thursday’s rally. “…Whether it’s in the courts or the Legislature, I think it’s fair to say that marriage equality in California is in sight and it will happen. … We are sad, we are proud and we are determined.”

Local organizations that participated in the rally and march along with The Center and MECA included Ebony Pride, American Veterans for Equal Rights, Bisexual Foundation, Bienestar, Family Matters, Pride At Work, SAGE of California, the San Diego Democratic Club and the Transgender Community Coalition.

To view the complete Supreme Court ruling Lockyer v. City and County of San Francisco, et al., visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com for a link.