Conservatives tell court domestic partner rights are illegal

By: JIM WASSERMAN - Associated Press | Friday, March 25, 2005 9:47 PM PST ∞

SACRAMENTO -- Lawyers for two groups opposed to same-sex marriage told a state appeals court Friday that a domestic partners law giving gay couples nearly the same rights as married spouses is illegal and should be overturned because lawmakers undermined the will of voters.

The law, which was signed by former Gov. Gray Davis and went into effect Jan. 1, represents the nation's most sweeping recognition of domestic partner rights after Vermont's recognition of civil unions for gay couples. It grants registered couples virtually every spousal right available under state law except the ability to file joint income taxes.

Opponents of the law told a three-judge appeals court panel that it violates a California ballot initiative that defined marriage as between a man and a woman, while supporters said the law was unrelated to the ballot measure. Proposition 22 passed five years ago with 61 percent support.

"What it does is it undermines Proposition 22," said Robert Tyler, attorney for the Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund.

The 3rd District Court of Appeal did not indicate when it would rule. The court previously rejected requests to prevent the law from taking effect during the appeal.

The case follows a major victory for gay rights supporters last week when a San Francisco County Superior Court judge struck down Proposition 22 and California's ban on gay marriage, saying both laws violated the civil rights of gays and lesbians to marry whom they chose.

Tyler and an attorney for the Campaign for California Families argued that Proposition 22's victory in 2000 not only defined marriage, but implicitly barred lawmakers from granting marriage-style benefits to domestic partners. A Sacramento County Superior Court judge rejected that argument in December, ruling the two were entirely different issues.

Attorneys for the state and a dozen pairs of domestic partners said voters could only presume from the ballot measure that they were making a statement about marriage, not about domestic partnerships.

"The voters of the state are entitled to get what they voted on. No more and no less," said Deputy Attorney General Kathleen Lynch in defense of the domestic partners law. "How would a voter know they were going to vote on more?"

The three justices repeatedly noted the simplicity of the 14-word ballot measure, saying it said nothing about rights of domestic partners nor the Legislature's ability to grant them.

Presiding Justice Arthur Scotland said the appeals court typically interprets laws based on plain meaning.

"If it's plain meaning, we use the plain meaning and stop there," he said.

The domestic partner law, authored by Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, one of six openly gay and lesbian members of the state Legislature, gives 29,000 registered same-sex partners nearly all the same rights as married couples except for the ability to file joint income taxes.

They have the right to buy, share and transfer property, take extended leave from work to care for one another, receive married-couple discounts on home and car insurance and assume responsibility to cover one another's debts. It allows access to divorce court to divide assets, seek alimony and gain child support payments. The law also gave couples legal status as parents over children born during their relationship.

A Field Poll taken as lawmakers debated the bill in 2003 showed 72 percent of California voters approved new rights for same-sex couples.

The new law followed a steady expansion of domestic partner rights in California, including a 1999 law making California the nation's first state to allow gays and lesbians, as well as elderly heterosexual couples, to register as domestic partners.

In 2001, lawmakers approved about a dozen rights for domestic partners, including the right to make medical decisions for an incapacitated partner and adopt a partner's child.

On the Net:

Campaign for California Families: http://www.savecalifornia.com

Alliance Defense Fund: http://www.alliancedefensefund.org

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