Wilson, Lungren Back Bill Against Gay Marriages

Weighing in on the hotly debated issue of same-sex marriage, Gov. Pete Wilson and Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren on Monday urged enactment of a bill prohibiting California from recognizing gay and lesbian marriages performed in other states.

The state’s top two Republicans spoke out one day before the Assembly-passed legislation faces a showdown in the Democratic-controlled state Senate Judiciary Committee.

They were immediately challenged by the Legislature’s only openly lesbian members, Democratic Assemblywomen Sheila Kuehl of Santa Monica and Carole Migden of San Francisco. The bill is strongly opposed by gay and lesbian activists.

Wilson and Lungren said the bill would strengthen the recognition of male-female marriage.

“By refusing to equate same-sex relationships to marriage, California is not denying an existing right,” the governor said, “but rather is properly exalting marriage.”

“This is not an anti-gay effort,” Lungren insisted. He called traditional male-female marriages a core underpinning of the Judeo-Christian heritage.

But Kuehl said the measure denies gays civil rights, equating it with past discrimination against slaves and other minorities.

“Slaves were not allowed to marry, and after emancipation, they were not allowed to marry white people,” she said. “In California, Chinese people and Japanese people were not allowed to marry white people until well into the middle of [this] century.”

“If you recognize a person’s love and their commitment to family on an equal basis with your own, you can no longer deny their humanity. That is what this bill is about,” she said.

The measure, approved 41 to 31 by the Assembly in January, the exact majority required, appears to have a slight edge for approval by the Senate committee, according to committee observers.

But amendments to weaken the prohibition are expected to be offered.

No state currently legalizes same-sex marriages. But backers of the bill (AB 1982) anticipate that courts in Hawaii will do so. They say California must be prepared to deny recognition of such unions.

Lungren said 11 states have enacted laws prohibiting the recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states. Another 21 states are considering similar legislation, he said.

Public opinion polls show Americans oppose gay and lesbian marriages, a view shared by both President Clinton and his expected GOP challenger, Bob Dole.

At a press conference, Lungren, a potential candidate for governor, warned that same-sex marriages would “undercut the foundation of this nuclear family unit which as been recognized for at least 5,000 years.” He said the main purpose of marital unions is “bringing a child into this world and . . . child rearing.”

In a formal statement, Wilson also endorsed the heavily lobbied bill authored by Assemblyman William “Pete” Knight (R-Palmdale). Wilson said California should strengthen the institution of marriage.

Kuehl asserted that marriage for gays and lesbians is a civil rights issue that eventually will be recognized. She said the denial of marriage historically has been a powerful tool used against minorities to “keep them in second-class citizenship.”

Kuehl charged that Lungren was not an “enormous friend” of gay and lesbian Californians. She recalled that he had to apologize a few years ago for a “homophobic” legal brief one of his deputies filed in court.

“We have thousands of people in our community who have been in committed relationships for years and years, raising children,” said Kuehl.

Neither Kuehl nor Migden would predict how the committee would vote. But Migden said, “We will win. If not tomorrow, we will win before the end of this century.”

States historically have recognized legal marriages by other states under the “full faith and credit” provision of the U.S. Constitution. In California, the Legislature in 1977 reaffirmed the traditional notion of marriage by defining it as a “personal relation between a man and a woman.”

A bill known as the Defense of Marriage Act is pending in Congress. It would define marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman functioning as husband and wife.

Currently, marital status is the basis for many federal benefits and services, including Social Security and tax, health and pension benefits.

Assemblyman Knight, who is running for election to the state Senate, said at a press conference that defeat of his bill would “open the door to any other kind of marriage,” including, he said, polygamous and incestuous relationships.

He also warned that the recognition of same-sex marriage would affect schools, leading children to learn about nontraditional lifestyles.

At one point, he held aloft an illustrated children’s book titled “Daddy’s Wedding” and displayed a picture from the book of two men in tuxedos embracing.

“We would be moving to a position of promoting a homosexual lifestyle,” Knight said.

He said same-sex marriages also would result in a burden to government and private employers, who would have to pay health and retirement benefits to spouses.