Gay-marriage supporters in this region watch, wait

By Stuart Eskenazi
Seattle Times staff reporter

	THOMAS JAMES HURST / THE SEATTLE TIMES Jessica Sowa, left, and Sarah Crowder, both students at the University of Washington, went to San Francisco and got a marriage license.
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When University of Washington students Sarah Crowder and Jessica Sowa decided to go to San Francisco last Friday morning to obtain a marriage license, they weren't sure they could get one in time before the courts stepped in and cut them off.

"No one that we talked to down there ever imagined that an injunction would not be granted," said Crowder, 22.

But here it is, one week later, and same-sex couples — nearly 3,000 so far — continue to get married by city officials in San Francisco.

The turn of events has astonished not only Crowder and Sowa, but also gay-rights advocates who long believed the most efficient path to getting gay marriage legalized was through the methodical court system, not the visceral political arena.

Gay-rights advocates in other cities now are wondering whether they ought to prod their local officials to follow the lead of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who started all this last week by asking his county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, though state law prohibits gay marriage.

In Chicago this week, Mayor Richard Daley said he would have no problem with the Cook County clerk issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Clerk David Orr said he was "game to looking at options," but only if a consensus could be built among the mayor, city and county government and advocacy groups.

A similar scenario, however, is unlikely in King County. (In Washington state, counties issue marriage licenses, not cities.) A spokeswoman for County Executive Ron Sims said yesterday that Sims believes in abiding by state law, which defines marriage as between one man and one woman.

The Legislature, not Sims, has the authority to change that law, she said.

However far it spreads, Newsom's audacity in San Francisco has energized a gay-rights movement that was feeling threatened by talk of a constitutional amendment and a debate over marriage taking place in Massachusetts.

"It's one thing to have this debate in a vacuum, like in Massachusetts," said Jamie Pedersen, a Seattle lawyer who co-chairs Lambda Legal, a national advocacy group for gays and lesbians. "But it's a very different thing when you have thousands of real people out there bouncing around with legitimate reason to believe their relationships should be respected."
 
Advocates of same-sex marriage also say they believe images of couples marrying in San Francisco are helping their cause.

"That's not a circus atmosphere down there," said Roger Winters of the Legal Marriage Alliance of Washington. "Those people are in love. They are hugging, kissing, crying. Some are bringing their children along."

But Jeff Kemp, executive director of Families Northwest, a conservative group in Bellevue that aims to strengthen the institution of heterosexual marriage, said Newsom's flouting of state law could backfire.

"When mayors break laws, the public is going to ask the question: 'What is going on? Can we trust our leaders to lead responsibly?' " he said. "I think this is going to wake people up to the fact that the institution of marriage is being toyed with in a way that isn't in the long-term best interests of this nation."

Pedersen, noting that Newsom's actions caught many activists off guard, said gay-rights groups would be wise to see how the unscripted drama in San Francisco plays out before pressing too hard on local officials elsewhere to follow suit.

"In not too much time, we are going to know how successful this strategy has been," he said. "It is still possible this could turn into a very expensive mistake."

Newsom's stand has drawn support from officials around the country. Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak has issued a proclamation in favor of treating gay couples the same as heterosexuals. Mayors in Salt Lake City and Plattsburgh, N.Y., also have expressed support for same-sex marriage.

But some supporters of gay marriage worry that San Francisco's move — under legal challenge from two conservative organizations — could undermine their efforts.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who is gay, told The Associated Press this week that he thinks the city's move could backfire.

"San Francisco being in sort of a free-for-all will be used against us politically," he said of efforts to ensure that opponents don't alter Massachusetts' constitution to overturn a court ruling allowing gay marriage.

The next move in San Francisco is up to the courts.

Yesterday, the city sued the state of California, challenging the state ban on same-sex marriages as unconstitutional. City officials claim the ban violates the equal-protection and due-process clause of California's constitution.

Two judges already are considering challenges from conservative groups seeking to halt the marriage spree.

No matter what the outcome in California courts, Crowder said she and Sowa, 23, understand the reality that their marriage license will not be recognized in Washington state. But the couple plans to graduate in June and later move to California.

"It's possible that once we move down there, we would have the rights of a married couple," she said.

The ambiguity that comes with the marriage license did not dampen the moods of the hundreds of couples in line with them in San Francisco.

"The people I spoke with, we didn't really talk much about the long-term effect of getting this license, but instead just how exciting it was to have a governmental entity recognize our relationship as valid," Crowder said.

Material from the Washington Post and Associated Press is included in this report. Stuart Eskenazi: 206-464- 2293 or seskenazi@seattletimes.com

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