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Wedding ban disputed: California appeals court being asked to reject law against gay marriage as unconstitutional San Francisco, which galvanized a national debate over same-sex weddings when it allowed gay couples to marry in 2004, asked a California appeals court to reject as unconstitutional a state law banning the unions. California's 2005 domestic partnership law doesn't give same-sex couples all of the same rights as heterosexual married couples and denies the social recognition that comes with marriage, Therese Stewart, chief deputy city attorney, said Monday at a hearing in San Francisco. She asked a three-judge panel to uphold a lower court reversal of the ban. "It tells the world that California believes these relationships are as important as any other," Stewart said. California has 92,000 same-sex couples, more than any other U.S. state, including Massachusetts, which is the only one to allow gay marriages. On July 6, courts in New York and Georgia rejected legal recognition of same-sex weddings… San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer said in his March 2005 ruling that "no rational basis" existed to prevent gay marriage. He put his ruling on hold pending appeals. The state and groups supporting the ban appealed Kramer's decision. The appeals court opinion, expected by October, could have impact beyond California as gay marriage promises to be a prominent issue in congressional elections this fall, said Lawrence Levine, a professor at University of Pacific's McGeorge School of Law.
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