Same-sex marriage bill strikes out in California Assembly News
Same-sex marriage bill strikes out in California Assembly

[JURIST] A same-sex marriage bill [text] introduced in the California Assembly [JURIST report] appears to be dead after coming up four votes short of approval on its third go-round Thursday, making it likely that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will not get a bill on the subject this year. Bill sponsor Assemblyman Mark Leno complained afterwards that gay and lesbian couples were being treated as "second-class citizens". The general issue meanwhile heads to the California Supreme Court, after state Attorney General Bill Lockyer earlier this week appealed [JURIST report] a state Superior Court ruling that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. The San Francisco Chronicle has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

South Africa becomes first country on continent to legalize same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriages became legal in South Africa on November 30, 2006 as the country's Civil Union Act, 2006 went into effect, making South Africa the only country on the African continent to legalize same-sex marriage. Read the Civil Union Act, 2006.