Word: newsom
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...hear Newsom tell it, he was incensed by Bush's vow during the State of the Union to preserve the sanctity of traditional marriage. He studied the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision that said gay couples could marry, the Supreme Court's decision in the Texas sodomy case and the California constitution. The latter's equal-protection clause gave him the rationale he needed. He decided that Proposition 22--the successful 2000 ballot measure in California that defined marriage as between a man and a woman--was discriminatory and therefore unconstitutional...
...same time, he began calling Democrats in Washington, telling them what he had in mind. California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer both advised the mayor against attacking the law by flouting it. Openly gay Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank said Newsom was jeopardizing gay marriage elsewhere and making a constitutional amendment more likely. If Newsom allowed gay marriages, the party said, it would be a liability for his political future...
...mayor's mind was made up. Gay activists came to city hall every year as part of a protest movement called Freedom to Marry. Newsom timed his directive so that this year they would not be turned away. During the long Presidents' Day weekend, Newsom even officiated at some weddings, including those of his chief of staff and his policy director. Meanwhile, impromptu parties convened on the city hall steps. Each couple that emerged waving a certificate was saluted by a mariachi band and a tap-dance troupe. Cookies, cake and roses were passed around. "This is our generation...
Conservatives begged to differ. A religious group called Repent America staged a sit-in at city hall last Friday. "Gavin Newsom is a renegade, and the word equality is being misused to rob all the sacred things of their uniqueness," said Randy Thomasson, founder of the Campaign for California Families. "What's next? Legalized heroin? Prostitution? Polygamy? Incest?" Thomasson's was one of two groups that asked for a temporary restraining order to halt the marriage spree. On Friday a local judge refused the request...
...Newsom's daring actions may end up being merely symbolic. Sacramento officials say they won't accept the licenses on bureaucratic grounds. But that doesn't put a dent in the happiness of those newlyweds under the rotunda. And Newsom? "My reward at the end of the day is that I can live with myself," he says. "I did my job and had a conscience. That's more powerful than being mayor...