By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO - After sanctioning more than 2,700 gay marriages in the past week, the city said Thursday it is suing the state of California, challenging its ban on same-sex marriages on constitutional grounds.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera planned to file the suit in the afternoon, said his spokesman, Matt Dorsey.

Two judges already are considering challenges from conservative groups seeking to halt the marriage spree that began last Thursday. The city's lawsuit asks that those cases be consolidated into one case.

The city is asking Superior Court Judge James Warren to declare unconstitutional two sections of the California Family Code that define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

City officials want the judge to determine if restricting same-sex couples from marrying violates the equal protection and due process clauses of the California Constitution.

On Tuesday, Warren gave the city the choice of ending the same-sex wedding march or returning to court in late March to show why the process has not been halted. The city said it would continue issuing such licenses until forced to stop."

We San Franciscan's can put up a fight! I pray that the California law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman is struck down! :smash:

Patti

I read this today. I urge everyone to do something about it (see bottom of article)

From www.michaelmoore.com

Stop the Radical Religious Right from Amending the U.S. Constitution

Spurred by the recent Massachusetts State Supreme Court decision against discrimination, some members of the radical religious right are aggressively campaigning to amend the U.S. Constitution to deny the right to marry to same-sex couples in committed relationships. The proposed amendment (H.J. Res 56/S.J. Res 26) would also invalidate all state and local domestic partnership laws and nullify civil rights protections based on marital status.

Today we look back, almost disbelieving, on the time when many Americans did not tolerate marriage between Catholics and Protestants and between people of different races. Unfortunately, our laws continue to deny a basic right to marry to two adults simply because they are gay or lesbian. Now, some want to write that discrimination into the U.S. Constitution.

Gay Americans serve in the military, keep our communities safe as firefighters and police officers, staff our hospitals, build our cities, and pay taxes. Denying gay couples the right to marry takes away legal rights in pensions, health insurance, hospital visitations and inheritance that other committed couples enjoy.

--Amending the Constitution is an extreme act. The proposed amendment would deny the right to marry to gay and lesbian couples and in doing so obliterate the family rights that many same-sex couples -- and unmarried heterosexual couples -- and their families now have. Revising the Constitution to ensure discrimination against anyone in America is wrong and should be rejected.

--The Federal Marriage Amendment is unnecessary. Even though the country has periodically struggled with the question of marriage -- the last law prohibiting people of different races from marrying was overturned only 35 years ago -- we have never taken the step of amending the Constitution to define marriage. Now is not the time to begin to use the Constitution as a tool for discrimination.

--The Federal Marriage Amendment rejects American traditions of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It would reverse the constitutional tradition of protecting individual freedoms. None of our constitutional amendments restrict individual freedoms. In fact, the amendments to the Constitution have been the source of most of the Constitution's protections for individual liberty rights. The proposed amendment, by contrast, would deny all protection for the most personal decisions made by millions of people in committed long-term relationships.

YOUR MISSION:

Through the American Civil Liberties Union website, you can send an free fax to your Representatives and Senators http://www.aclu.org/LesbianGayRights/LesbianGayRights.cfm?ID=9977&c=101 . Or you can find your members of Congress here http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/index.htm and contact them directly.