SAN FRANCISCO - In a landmark decision, a judge in the gay-friendly US city of San Francisco on Monday struck down as unconstitutional a California state law that bans same-sex marriage.
The ruling is the first on the constitutionality of the disputed law that led San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to launch a rogue wave of gay marriages in which around 4,000 same-sex couples were wed last year.
Those unions were later nullified by the California Supreme Court, but the debate, which featured heavily in November`s US presidential election, never went away.
Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer ruled that state laws limiting marriage to between a man and a woman violated the constitutional right to equality to which gay and lesbian citizens are entitled.
"This court concludes that California`s traditional limit of marriage to a union between a man and a woman is not a sufficient rational basis to justify" banning same-sex marriage, Kramer wrote in the ruling, which gay-marriage opponents are expected to appeal.
"Simply put, same sex marriage cannot be prohibited solely because California has always done so before," the judge said ruling on the case brought by Newsom and 12-same sex couples.
The judge also rejected the argument by California officials that authorities had a traditional interest in precluding same-sex marriages and that marriage was somehow linked to heterosexual procreation.
"Under our present opposite-sex only law, marriage is available to heterosexual couples regardless of whether they can or want to procreate.
"On this point, the advocates of opposite-sex only marriage have failed to opposite any explanation whatsoever for such disparate treatment..," the judge said in his 27 page ruling.
"Thus, the denial of same-sex marriage appears impermissibly arbitrary," said the judge who compared the denial of marriage to gay couples to the "separate but equal" US race laws that were struck down in the 1950s.
The dramatic decision came just over a year after San Francisco held its same-sex unions in February 2004 to protest the state ban on gay marriage.
The liberal young mayor of San Francisco, which polls indicate is home to at least 80,000 gay people who make up about 10 percent of its population, ordered city hall to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in defiance of state law.
But California`s Supreme Court in August voided the 4,000 same-sex marriages, ruling that Newsom had overstepped his powers by blessing the unions.
The high court however did not rule on the whether the law defining marriage as being exclusively between a man and a woman flouted the liberal state`s constitution by discriminating against citizens on the basis of their sexual orientation.
That question fell to Kramer in a move that conservative Christian groups have vigorously opposed but which gay organisations praised.
"Today`s ruling is an historic victory and part of an inspiring momentum," said Jenny Pizer, senior counsel for gay group Lambda Legal.
"The court recognized that same-sex couples aren`t treated equally under the law unless we can marry. The judge saw these couples, these families that have the same needs as everyone else," she told AFP.
The decision follows a legal challenge by Newsom and at least 12 gay couples on the ban that exists in many US states and growing opposition to which has stirred up a social and political hornets` nest in America.
Lancy Woo, 38, one of the plaintiffs in the case along with her lesbian partner Cristy Chung said she was stunned but overjoyed at the ruling.
"We`ve always taught (our six-year-old daughter) that our family is based on love, just like other families, and this ruling confirms that our family shouldn`t be treated any differently by our government," Woo said.
Currently the eastern state of Massachusetts is the only US territory to allow same sex marriage after its supreme court cleared the way for the disputed unions in late 2003.
03/14/2005 23:05 GMT