civil contract ... it is different from domestic partners, it's just different from civil unions - it means something," said state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, who presented the bill and was also the first openly gay person to be elected to the Legislature. "And because it means something, that's why it's been denied to us." The bill seeks to make California the second state to legalize same-sex marriage, after Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage became legal in 2004. Since then, some 8,000 couples have been married by the state.

Elsewhere, Belgium, Canada, Netherlands, South Africa and Spain offer full marriage rights to gays and lesbians. Critics of Leno's measure said Friday that California voters spoke clearly in 2000 when they approved Proposition 22, which barred recognition of same-sex marriage in the state by defining marriage as between a man and woman only.

"We see AB43 as yet another heavy-handed, blatant attempt for Mark Leno and Co. to skirt the current restrictions in law that prevents same-sex marriages in California," said Benjamin Lopez, a lobbyist for the Traditional Values Coalition, who has fought past same-sex marriage efforts. Lopez said that if Leno's bill were signed, it would be the result of "sympathetic liberal legislators and liberal judges who force it upon the people," and that "the whole definition of the family will be torn asunder." Leno began his efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in 2004, just as San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom approved the issuing of marriage licenses to same-sex couples at City Hall. "It was one of the best days of our lives," remembered Molly McKay, who with her partner was among the first couples married in San Francisco on Feb. 12, 2004. "All of the same-sex couples got a taste of equality." Afterward, McKay said Friday, people began to notice the wedding ring she had worn for 10 years. "For us it meant really being able to have the full dignity that everyone else is entitled to." In August 2004, the state Supreme Court later nullified more than 4,000 marriages stemming from Newsom's action, ruling that Newsom had no authority to disregard the marriage law. The high court is now considering the constitutionality of the state law that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Leno pulled his 2004 bill after it stalled in the Assembly but introduced the measure again

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