Opinion
 

San Francisco marriages will set precedent

By Paul Saleeba

The city of San Francisco has been issuing marriage licenses -- not civil union licenses -- to same-sex couples. San Francisco is the first city in the nation to grant gays and lesbians completely equal rights under the law.

This is possibly the biggest moment in the gay rights movement in America since the Stonewall riots in 1969. But why should the average straight American care, and why are the religious folk all uppity about the situation? Well most gays and lesbians, myself included, feel that we, like all Americans, are entitled to equal privilege and protection under the law. This isn't about whatever the church does -- this is specifically about the states' treatment of homosexual couples. Now that I've diffused anyone who wishes to accuse me of forcing a church to marry gay couples let me move onto why this is important.

A city recognizing gay marriage is a huge first. Vermont has granted civil union status to same-sex couples, but this is not a marriage. This sort of discrimination amounts to a very tame Jim Crow approach -- one set of laws for the straight populace, one for the gay. Civil unions for gays stink of "separate but equal."

What most people miss in the discussion about gay marriage is that what the churches want to do does not matter. Marriage in the legal sense is a contract between two people and the state. No one can deny the religious root of marriages in most cases, but when it comes to the relationship of the state, marriage and the citizen, the state is obliged to provide equal protection under the law to all its citizens.

Right now more than 200 marriage licenses have been issued in the city of San Francisco and the legal challenges have already started. More will come as time goes by. Will the Internal Revenue Service accept a gay joint tax return? 

Consider the case currently running its way through the Harris county legal system. The couple started out as a straight couple, but one of them had a sex-change operation, as well as having her legal status changed to entirely female, birth certificate and all. Texas has always side-stepped any groundbreaking judgements in same-sex matters, so some deal may be struck to avoid having the state recognize a marriage in the first place.

To all those San Francisco couples, I wish you good luck on your new marriages, and hope that the rest of the government will start treating gays and lesbians just like everyone else, with the same attitude most Americans already have.

Saleeba, a columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at marskitt3n@hotmail.com.