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09/07/2005: Firsts in American Legal History
The California legislature becomes the first in the United States to pass a gay marriage bill without being forced by a court order to do it (LA Times story; use the user credentials latimesdotcom@spam.la/raarraar to login; courtesy of BugMeNot):
The California Legislature made history Tuesday as the Assembly passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.Because, after all, "Ve vill haff no girlie-men in KahleeFAWNya..."
With no votes to spare, California's lawmakers became the first in the United States to act without a court order to sanction gay marriages. The measure was approved after three Democratic lawmakers who abstained on a similar proposal that failed in June changed their minds under intense lobbying by bill author Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and gay and civil rights activists.
No Republicans voted in favor of the bill. Forty-one of the Assembly's 47 Democrats voted yes; four Democrats voted "no," and two abstained.
The bill, which would change California's legal definition of marriage from "a civil contract between a man and a woman" to a "civil contract between two persons," now goes to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. He has signaled that he will veto it.
Len on 09.07.05 @ 07:30 PM CST
