Court upholds ban on gay marriage
Sacramento Bee
October 6, 2006

Concluding that "courts in this state simply do not have authority to redefine marriage," the California Court of Appeal on Thursday upheld state laws that ban same-sex marriages.
 
The 2-1 decision added California to a growing list of states where appellate courts in the past few months -- in New York , Washington state and Nebraska -- have rejected constitutional challenges to the traditional definition of marriage as a union of man and woman.
 
In 45 states, that tradition has been enshrined in statutes -- as in California -- or the state constitution. But it has come under heavy assault, particularly since the Massachusetts Supreme Court upheld the right of same-sex couples to marry in 2003.
 
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"Ultimately the Supreme Court of the state is not going to defer to the lower court ... and will have to make an independent decision," said Lawrence C. Levine, who teaches a course in sexual orientation and the law at University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. Levine noted that as in other appellate courts around the country, the California Court of Appeal was closely divided.
 
Only Massachusetts currently permits same-sex couples to marry, though a referendum could be held there in 2008.
 
Vermont and Connecticut permit same-sex civil unions.
 
State appellate courts in New York and Washington state upheld same-sex marriage bans in July, and the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a Nebraska ban the same month. State Supreme Court appeals are pending in New Jersey , where a decision is imminent, and in Maryland .