SAN JOSE SUED OVER SSM BENEFITS: From the San Jose Mercury News

A conservative legal group filed suit Thursday against San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and the city in an attempt to block extension of city-paid health and welfare benefits to same-sex partners of city employees.

The suit asks the Santa Clara County Superior Court to declare that San Jose has no legal authority to recognize same-sex marriage licenses issued elsewhere.

It was filed on behalf of the Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund and Values Advocacy Council by the Alliance Defense Fund based in Scottsdale, Ariz. The group describes itself as a "legal alliance of more than 700 attorneys defending religious liberty."

On March 9, the San Jose City Council voted 8-1 to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere to expand city worker benefits already given to heterosexual married couples. Previously, city employees had to pay for same-sex partners' benefits under domestic partnership laws. ...

The vote triggered an uproar among members of evangelical churches and has spurred a movement to recall Gonzales.

Although San Jose has no power to issue marriage licenses, the vote was part of a groundswell of support that began when San Francisco started issuing thousands of same-sex marriage licenses in February. The California Supreme Court temporarily halted issuing same-sex marriage licenses, with oral arguments scheduled for May 25.

Even though the high court will make the ultimate decision, Jordan Lorence, senior counsel for the alliance, said the San Jose issue "needs to be litigated. To allow it to sit there and do nothing would allow the mayor to say, 'I don't have to follow state law.'" ...

But City Attorney Rick Doyle, who had not seen the lawsuit, said Thursday that he "never issued any kind of opinion on the legality" of the same-sex marriage licenses. "As for providing benefits, the City Council as an employer was within its rights," he said.

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posted by Eve at 5:01 PM VOTE

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