San Francisco Mayor puts future on line with gay marriage quest
BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer Friday, March 12, 2004
(03-12) 14:08 PST SAN FRANCISCO (AP) --
Slapped down by California's Supreme Court, Mayor Gavin Newsom immediately approved a new constitutional challenge in pursuit of his quest to make same-sex marriages legal, and predicted that his view will prevail eventually.

"I hope every elected official in the United States takes a look at that Constitution that they swore to uphold," he said shortly after the justices ordered the city on Thursday to stop marrying gays and lesbians.


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Right Wing Law Firm Ejected From Florida Gay Marriage Case


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Lawsuit challenges recognition of same-sex marriages in Seattle
A Mississippi family advocacy group has filed a lawsuit in King County, Wash., superior court on behalf of a Seattle resident seeking to block Mayor Greg Nickels from recognizing the unions of gay city employees who marry elsewhere. The Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Association, representing Randall Leskovar, asked Judge James Doerty on Thursday to issue an order preventing the city from implementing the executive order the mayor signed earlier this week, said Brian Fahling, the attorney who filed the papers. "A renegade mayor can do whatever he wants until he gets shut down by the law," Fahling said.
"This mayor has defied the express will of the people." Doerty did not indicate when he would make a ruling, according to Fahling and Marianne Bichsel, the mayor's spokeswoman.


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Gay rights groups challenge California marriage laws in court
The National Center for Lesbian Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund announced Friday morning that they had filed a lawsuit seeking to give same-sex couples in California the right to marry on behalf of six same-sex couples as well as Our Family Coalition and Equality California. Five of the six couples had appointments to obtain marriage licenses at San Francisco City Hall, but their appointments were canceled as a result of the California supreme court's order on Thursday directing San Francisco to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The lawsuit argues that denying same-sex couples the right to marry violates the California constitution's guarantees of equality, liberty, and privacy. "This is a historic moment," said Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. "It is long past time for California law to fully embrace and protect the relationships of lesbian and gay couples. We are confident that the issues presented in our lawsuit and the real-life stories of these couples will provide the court with compelling justification finally to correct this long-standing injustice."