A California judge declined to halt San Francisco from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples Friday, meaning the marriages will continue for at least the next several weeks.
Superior Court Judge Ronald Evans Quidachay said conservative organizations opposing the marriages failed to prove the city is causing harm by issuing licenses to approximately 3,000 couples in the past eight days.
After the city sued to challenge the state's gay marriage ban, the conservative opposition's lawsuits were combined. The next hearing on the lawsuits will be in March.
This decision comes as Wisconsin's Assembly prepares to begin debating a proposal calling for an amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriages this week.
State Rep. John Townsend, R-Fond du Lac, one of the representatives who introduced the proposal, said he thought the events in San Francisco will have a negative effect on state legislators as they debate the issue.
\I think the unfortunate thing is it's going to galvanize opinions on both sides,"" he said.
He said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's action to allow same-sex marriages, which countered the California state constitution's definition of marriage, was a very radical and revolutionary type of approach.
Townsend added efforts for social change take one of two approaches-radical and evolutionary. People need to be patient over the issue of same-sex marriages, so instead of disharmony, some sort of harmony can be reached between opposing sides.
""Basically [issuing marriage licenses] was an effort to circumvent the law,"" he said.
However, state Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, who issued a piece of legislation advocating same-sex marriages, said he does not think the events in San Francisco will have any effect on Wisconsin. He added Wisconsin citizens make up their minds on the basis of their own opinions, not on the actions of residents of another state.
To become a constitutional amendment, the proposal has to be sent through two consecutive legislative sessions and then be presented to the public in a referendum. With only 10 days of legislative session left, Risser said he hopes the proposal will not make it through this session.
""My efforts will be on trying to delay and not have it come up,"" he said.
-The Washington Post
contributed to this report.
