The sponsors of a
proposed constitutional amendment that would ban
same-sex marriage sued California's attorney general Tuesday
over the summary the state prepared for the group's
signature-gathering petitions.
The lawsuit claims that Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer
inaccurately described the measure, which would also
strip same-sex couples of domestic-partnership rights.
The suit says Locker, a Democrat, highlighted the
amendment's effects on registered domestic partners
instead of explaining that its chief purpose is to preserve
marriage as a union between a man and a woman. "The
attorney general has failed to carry out his duty to
prepare a neutral, factual title and summary," said
Mathew Staver, whose Liberty Counsel law firm is
representing VoteYesMarriage.com.
Staver wants the court to order Lockyer to
revise the petition language. Until the matter is
resolved, the group won't be circulating the petitions
required to gather the 598,105 signatures it needs to
qualify the amendment for the June 2006 ballot.
Lockyer spokesman Tom Dresslar defended the
attorney general's summary of the amendment, saying it
is a fair representation that a judge is likely to
uphold. "The title and summary is 100% accurate in
describing what the initiative would do," Dresslar
said. "It wipes out registered domestic-partner rights
and obligations that currently exist in California law."
Meanwhile, a second group that also wants to ban
same-sex marriage and do away with domestic-partner
rights in California with a constitutional amendment
has begun gathering signatures. That amendment is sponsored
by a group called ProtectMarriage.com.
Elsewhere Tuesday, opponents of marriage
equality for gays filed a ballot initiative aimed at
amending the Massachusetts constitution to ban
same-sex marriage. The initiative would define marriage as
the union of a man and a woman. The measure is
part of an effort to overturn same-sex marriage, which
the state supreme judicial court legalized in 2003.
Massachusetts is the only state to allow gay and lesbian
marriages. (AP)
