Gay Marriage
California family code - Division 3. Marriage - Part 1. Validity of Marriage 300. (a)
Marriage is a personal relation arising out of a civil contract between a man and a woman, to which the consent of the parties capable of making that contract is necessary.
Consent alone does not constitute marriage. Consent must be followed by the issuance of a license and solemnization as authorized by this division, except as provided by Section 425 and Part 4 (commencing with Section 500).
(introduced & may be changed by legislature) 308.5.
Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.
( = California Proposition 22 voted by referendum, so may not be changed by legislature but by another referendum or a judgment of unconstitutionality).
No marriage license or recognition.
Other relationship recognition for same-sex couples :
Domestic partnership in California.
A California domestic partnership is a legal relationship available to same-sex couples, and to certain opposite-sex couples in which at least one party is at least 62 years of age. It affords families a wide range of rights and responsibilities similar to marriage.
Enacted in 1999, the domestic partnership registry was the first of its kind in the United States created by a legislature without court intervention. Initially, domestic partnerships enjoyed very few privileges—principally just hospital-visitation rights. The legislature has since expanded the scope of California domestic partnerships to afford many of the rights and responsibilities common to marriage.
As such, it is now difficult to distinguish California domestic partnerships from civil unions offered in a handful of other states. Although the program enjoys broad support in California, it has been the source of some controversy.
Groups opposed to the recognition of same-sex families have challenged the expansion of domestic partnerships in court. Conversely, advocates of same-sex marriage have derided the inferior status of domestic partnerships as “separate but unequal” to marriage, invoking the rhetoric that discredited the Plessy v. Ferguson racial-segregation ruling. However, analogy to Brown v.
Board of Education (1954, US Supreme Court) is a common error because it ignores the historical facts. “Separate but equal” was invented by white supremacists in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896, US Supreme Court) to oppress African-Americans. Domestic Partners was invented by a gay man, Tom Brougham, in 1982 and advanced by lesbian and gay organizations to obtain the benefits of marriage when most lesbians and gay men viewed marriage as a discredited patriarchal institution.
Indeed, the acceptance of civil union/domestic partners is more comparable to Brown than to Plessy.