The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops reaffirmed its support for an amendment that would ban same-sex marriages (Lattin).

Other activists compared Newsoms daring actions to legalizing heroin, prostitution, polygamy, and incest (Taylor). Lawyers were already in court trying to obtain an emergency decree to stop what they classified as municipal anarchy (Gordon).

Acting on this notion, Newsom finalized his decision to issue the licenses on Wednesday Febru(Taylor).īy that Friday afternoon, in the midst of same-sex weddings, the opposition had begun. Newsom asserted that the equal-protection clause of the state constitution gave him reason to believe that Proposition 22 was discriminatory and therefore unconstitutional. Irritated by President Bushs pledge to preserve the sanctity of traditional marriage, Newsom studied the California constitution to ensure that his forthcoming actions would not be ruled unconstitutional. Moreover, he thought he had an obligation to defend the rights of millions of Americans against what he viewed as an attempt by the President to deny these rights (Heyman). After attending a State of the Union address wherein President Bush praised the Defense of Marriage Act, Newsom felt offended (Heyman). Gavin Newsom felt that it was his responsibility as an elected official to order city clerks to issue the marriage licenses. When San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom decided to issue marriage licenses for same-sex couples in 2004, he did so with tremendous courage, against warnings of committing political suicide, and has subsequently ignited a modern struggle for equal rights. They are thus obligated to do so, an obligation that at times forces the individual to act courageously, against outside pressures, to accomplish this task. Mayor Gavin NewsomThe primary responsibility of any elected official is to operate in accordance with his or her constituency. Courage in Politics: JFK’s Profiles in Courage and

Jfk political courage