SAN FRANCSICO February 11, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Perhaps to no-one’s surprise, the newly elected Democrat mayor of San Francisco has ordered the County Clerk to investigate what needs to be done to begin issuing marriage licences to homosexual “partners”.
Mayor Gavin Newsom said that he wants the “forms and documents used to apply for and issue marriage licences” to be modified for use by same sex “couples”. The forms must be available “on a non-discriminatory basis, without regard to gender or sexual orientation.” The fight in the United States over the definition of marriage is being fought at every level from the municipal records office to the Senate in Washington. The Massachusetts House will decide today if an amendment to the state constitution may be adopted to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. At the same time, at the federal level, the Senate House leader has called for a constitutional marriage amendment. The tactic of forcing municipalities to issue marriage licences worked in Ontario where homosexual activists forced the issue first in municipal records offices and then in the courts. In San Francisco, the County Clerk, Nancy Alfaro, plans to consult the state Attorney General on the feasibility of such a change. California State law explicitly defines marriage as an act between a man and a woman, a prerequisite Newsom considers “codified discrimination.” Newsom said in a statement, “Denying basic rights to members of our community will not be tolerated.” See local coverage: https://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/02/10/state2025EST0139.DTL