Next Step: Leno’s Gay Marriage Bill

On Monday, when California’s Supreme Court handed the state’s domestic partners three victories, ruling that they are entitled to most of the same legal rights as married couples, in Sacramento the Senate passed three gay rights bills, a record for the state. It was, said Geoff Kors, the head of California’s gay rights lobby, “a double hat trick.”

‘We’ve never had as successful a day in our history, getting three bills through in one day,” said Kors who leads Equality California.

A measure by Asm. Leland Yee (D-SF) would add sexual orientation and gender identity to a voluntary pledge that candidates may take not engage in slurs when campaigning. A resolution by Sen. Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) would put California formally on record as opposing the federal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” system for discriminating against gays and lesbians in the military. And in a slow legislative session, a comprehensive civil rights bill by Santa Cruz’s Asm. John Laird (D) would be major news.

But the main event of the session will start Thursday when the gatekeeper Senate Appropriations committee takes up the state’s same-sex marriage bill, re-introduced in July after an identical measure failed in the Assembly in early June.

Committee chair and LGBT caucus member Sen. Carole Midgen (D-SF) said she is confident her committee will move the bill to the full Senate. “It’s going to the floor,” she vowed on Wednesday, where it could be heard as early as next Tuesday. Both the bill’s Assembly author, Asm. Mark Leno (D-SF) and Migden’s Chief of Staff, Alan LoFaso, estimate they have at least the 21 votes they need to advance it to the Assembly. “We think we’ll have it. We could have 22, or we could have 23,” Leno said.

If they pass the bill, California’s Senate will become the first legislative body in the country to vote for same-sex marriage. “It will totally take away the argument that it is just ‘activist judges’ who are finding for marriage non-discrimination,” Kors said. “It’s the people’s representatives in the largest state in the nation doing this.”

Leno said the bill could move to the Assembly as early as next week, where, he said, things have changed since it was voted down by a 37-41 margin in June. Advocates need just 41 votes, four more, to clear the Assembly.

‘We’re working every angle,” Leno said. “But there are big differences between now and June.” Both Canada and Spain have adopted same-sex marriage. The United Farm Workers have endorsed the bill, which is co-authored by the Assembly’s speaker and head of the Latino Caucus, Fabian Núñez. The city of Los Angeles, and its new Latino mayor, have endorsed it, “and a couple of the undecided Democrats are from LA,” said Leno. The United Church of Christ has come out nationally for same-sex marriage.

“There are no certainties in the legislative process,” Leno said. “We just keep moving forward, doing everything we can.”
Leno said that the climate, however, has changed in the past few months. “This is not radical. This is not vanguard. We’re part of something bigger than ourselves now.”

But Kors said that now is the time when members of the LGBT community can have a substantial impact by making their opinions known to the legislature.
“We’re in the final two weeks of the session and this is the time when our community needs to be getting involved, sending e-mails and making phone calls,” he said. Kors asked community members to go to Equality California’s website, eqca.org, and send e-mails to the legislators. “They need to see the power of our community and get ten, 20, 30 thousand e-mails,” he said. “To show we’re a stronger force than the extreme right. We need people to do that right now.

“They count these, they do pay attention,” Kors said.