On June 5th, the California state Assembly voted 42-34 to pass the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, a bill that would provide same-sex couples with the equal right to marry under state law. The bill now goes to the state Senate. A similar bill passed the Legislature in 2005, but was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. California's 2005 bill marked the first time a state passed legislation providing for marriage equality under state law.
"We congratulate the California Assembly for passing this important, fair-minded bill. We also congratulate Assemblymember Mark Leno, who authored this bill, and Equality California, which is working hard to achieve equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Californians," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "We have seen a steadily building wave of support for equality in more and more states, and we hope California will add to that momentum by recognizing that all loving and committed couples deserve full equality under the law."
Solmonese continued, "California is already one of 10 states that provides at least some form of relationship recognition to same-sex couples through domestic partnership. But marriage is the gold standard. This is about basic fairness. It's time to get rid of the separate systems
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