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Court to hear gay-marriage case

"We view this as a positive action."

Hallye Jordan, spokeswoman for the California attorney general

California's Supreme Court on Friday refused an appeal by the state's top legal official to immediately order a halt to San Francisco's defiant gay marriage blitz.

The court's refusal came after two San Francisco judges last week denied requests by conservative groups seeking emergency orders halting the marriages until the issue over whether state laws banning same-sex marriage are unconstitutional is settled.

The Supreme Court instead ordered San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and his city to show by March 5 why the top court should not halt the same-sex marriage blitz and defend his actions.

"Respondents are directed to file an opposition to the petition, addressing both the request for an immediate cease and desist order or stay and the merits of the petition, on or before Friday, March 5, 2004," the court said.

The decision was a response to Attorney General Bill Lockyer's petition on Friday asking the court to immediately halt the gay marriages and invalidate the more than 3,000 unions sanctioned by the city since Feb. 12.

Mayor Newsom two weeks ago ordered officials to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in an open challenge to state laws banning the politically explosive practice.

The city and the mayor maintain that the laws defining marriage as being a union between a man and a woman are discriminatory and therefore violate the state's Constitution, making them unlawful.

Lockyer's legal challenge to San Francisco's campaign of civil disobedience came after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered him to stop the marriages that he said posed an imminent threat to civil order.

But while gay groups will view the court ruling as a victory, Lock-yer's office said the attorney general took the ruling as a good omen.

"We view this as a positive action, indicating the Supreme Court is seriously considering our request for the court to resolve the issue over the validity of the same-sex licenses quickly," spokeswoman Hallye Jordan said.

Lockyer argued earlier that the law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman was clear and must be obeyed.

"The law is clear," he said.

"Individuals and government entities that object to statutes may work to change them through the legislative or initiative process.

"But unless an appellate court strikes the law down as unconstitutional, state statutes must be followed and they must be enforced," he said, after filing papers in a bid to settle the row once and for all.

With elections only a few months away, both Republican and Democratic leaders feel they must tread a fine line over the issue, fearing a backlash whether they either support or oppose the practice.

Notoriously free-thinking San Francisco boasts the US' largest gay community and said it wanted to set an example of tolerance and equality in the country.

The California Supreme Court was the first in the US to legalize marriage between people of different races in 1948, and 25 years ago it made discrimination against gays illegal.
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