As hundreds of gay and lesbian couples lined up at City Hall for the historic chance to wed with the city's blessing, opponents filed legal papers arguing that only judges can declare California's prohibition on same-sex marriages to be unconstitutional.
In a brief submitted for a court hearing to be held yesterday, lawyers for one of two groups seeking to block the unprecedented wedding march said on Monday that Mayor Gavin Newsom was in blatant violation of state law when he directed the county clerk to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
Newsom has argued that the equal protection clause of the California Constitution makes denying marriage licenses to gay couples illegal. But lawyers for a group formed to defend Proposition 22 -- a 2000 ballot initiative that says the state will recognize only marriages between a man and woman as valid -- contend the mayor lacks the authority to make that decision.
"What the mayor and his cronies have attempted to do is short-circuit the legal process by being both judge and jury themselves," said Alliance Defense Fund attorney Benjamin Bull.
A second group, the Campaign for California Families, had a hearing scheduled before a different judge yesterday. It wants an injunction to keep the city from issuing any more licenses to same-sex couples, and a declaration to invalidate the licenses already granted.
The city's lawyers said they will argue that government agencies or officials are not barred from advancing their own interpretations of the state constitution. They also claim the plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that continuing to issue licenses for same-sex couples would cause the irreparable harm necessary to obtain a court stay.
"Same-sex couples denied the right to marry face far greater harm than the petitioners here," stated a legal brief filed by the city on Monday.
The looming legal showdown didn't deter thousands of people from lining up outside City Hall in the rain on Monday. They hoped to join more than 1,700 other same-sex couples who have exchanged vows here in recent days. Despite miserable weather, many couples camped out overnight rather than risk going home still single.
"This is an opportunity we couldn't pass up," said David Miller of San Francisco as he and his boyfriend, Guadalupe Jimenez, waited in a line that snaked from the county clerk's office and wound three blocks around the ornate building.
Since San Francisco officials began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Thursday last week, hundreds of gays and lesbians have wed. Most are from the Bay Area, but about 50 are from other states, including New York, Georgia, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and South Carolina, Assessor Mabel Teng said.
The city was to continue issuing marriage licenses yesterday "unless told otherwise by the city attorney," she said.
Republican lawmakers in New Hampshire, where same-sex marriage is already illegal, are pushing a proposal that would allow the state to disregard gay unions performed elsewhere.
The bill, which was to come up for a committee hearing yesterday, would reinforce the state's gay marriage ban and state that gay unions performed outside New Hampshire have no standing within the state. It would also make Vermont-style civil unions illegal in New Hampshire.
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