Area Lawmaker Rejects Same-Sex Marriages but Backs Partnership Role

In a crucial committee vote in Sacramento on Tuesday, state Sen. Jack O’Connell opposed recognizing same-sex marriages, but backed an amendment that recognized domestic partnerships.

His vote on the bill brought mixed reaction from both conservatives and gay-rights activists.

“O’Connell had the opportunity to stand up for a principled view of family values, and he didn’t,” said Andrew Seeley, chairman of the Declaration Society of Ventura County, a morally conservative public policy group.

Sean Michael, secretary of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Ventura, said O’Connell’s vote didn’t resolve any issues.

“I just wish he would get on with it and address the real problem--homophobia,” Michael said.

The issue of same-sex marriages surfaced this year because a court case in Hawaii is expected to legalize such unions in that state. Under federal law, each state is supposed to recognize legal contracts, such as marriage, from other states.

Conservative lawmakers in Sacramento introduced legislation this year that would enable the state to circumvent the recognition of same-sex marriages.

O’Connell, a Democrat who represents Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties as well as parts of western Ventura County, said he supported granting same-sex couples certain legal rights that heterosexual couples enjoy--such as hospital visitation rights and shared health-care benefits--but that he had difficultly supporting gay and lesbian marriages.

“My impression is that the term ‘marriage’ is too steeped in socio-religious traditions and mores for people to feel comfortable with its applications to gays and lesbians,” O’Connell said in a prepared statement Tuesday.

Neil Demers-Grey, director of Unity Pride Coalition of Ventura County, applauded O’Connell’s vote.

“I think it was a very equitable position for him to take,” Demers-Grey said. “Gay marriage is still a radically new concept for most people . . . yet he still supported domestic partnerships. Besides, O’Connell must have known the domestic partnership amendment would have killed the bill anyway.”

But O’Connell was criticized by others for trying to straddle both sides of the issue.

“Either you believe marriage should be between a man and a woman or you don’t,” said Randy Thomasson, assistant director of the Capitol Resource Institute, a Sacramento-based conservative group focused on family issues. “Domestic partnership is tantamount to pseudo-gay marriage.”

“[O’Connell] tried to figure out where he’d get the least amount of political pain,” said John Davies, a Santa Barbara political consultant and longtime O’Connell advisor.

Michael, of Ventura’s Gay and Lesbian Community Center, said O’Connell’s stance was reminiscent of the fight over interracial marriage several decades ago.

“Nobody accepted interracial marriage and nobody wanted it,” Michael said. “But 30 years later, it’s not a big issue. Hopefully the same will be true with gay marriage.”

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