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Proposition 22 was a law enacted by California voters in March 2000 to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples. In May 2008, it was struck down by the California Supreme Court as contrary to the state constitution. The Act was proposed by means of the initiative process. It was authored by state Senator William "Pete" Knight and is known informally as the Knight initiative. Voters adopted the measure on March 7, 2000, with 61% in favor to 39% against.〔4,618,673 votes versus 2,909,370 against www.census.gov/census2000/states/ca.html. ()〕 The margin of victory surprised many, since a Field Poll immediately prior to the election estimated support at 53%, with 40% against and 7% undecided.〔http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10497209〕 The Act added Section 308.5 of the Family Code, which read "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California". Because the Act was an ordinary statute, it could be struck down if it were inconsistent with the state constitution, as happened on May 15, 2008, when the state supreme court, ruling in ''In re Marriage Cases'', declared that same-sex couples had a constitutional right to marry.〔(California Supreme Court. ''re Marriage Cases'' (2008) 43 Cal.4th 757 (76 Cal.Rptr.3d 683, 183 P.3d 384) )〕 This 4–3 decision invalidated Proposition 22 and some related California laws. Proposition 22 provoked debate long after its passage. In November 2008 California voters overturned the ''In re Marriage Cases'' decision by approving an amendment of the state constitution called Proposition 8. In June 2010, Proposition 8 was declared unconstitutional by U.S district judge Vaughn Walker based on the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. In June 2013, the United States Supreme Court in ''Hollingsworth v. Perry'' ruled that the Intervenor-Defendants had no Article III standing to appeal Walker's ruling, keeping Proposition 8 unforceable throughout California and enabling same-sex marriage to resume just two days after the decision. ==Statutory framework== Prior to 1977, marriage was defined in Section 4100 of the California Civil Code. This stated that marriage is "a personal relation arising out of a civil contract, to which consent of the parties making that contract is necessary".〔''Calif. Civil Code section 4100 prior to 1977:'' Stats. 1969, ch. 1608, s. 8, p. 3314; ''amended to incorporate explicit gender requirement:'' Calif. Stats. 1977, ch. 339, s. 1, p. 1295; ''recodified at Calif. Family Code section 300 without substantive change:'' Calif. Stats. 1992, ch.162 s. 10, p. 474〕 While related sections of the law made references to sex, a State Assembly committee that was debating adding sex-specific terms to this section in 1977 noted: "Under existing law it is not clear whether partners of the same sex can get married".〔California Assembly Committee on the Judiciary, Bill Digest for A.B. 607 (1977)〕 That year, the legislature amended the legal definition of marriage to remove any ambiguity. In 1992 the legal definition of marriage was moved from the Civil Code to Section 300 of the Family Code. When Proposition 22 came before voters, marriage was defined in the Family Code as "a personal relation arising out of a civil contract ''between a man and a woman,'' to which the consent of the parties capable of making that contract is necessary" (added ).〔California Family Code, (Section 300 )〕 Even though the definition governing who may marry explicitly precluded contracting a same-sex marriage in California, a separate provision, Section 308, governed recognition of marriages contracted elsewhere. This stated that a "marriage contracted outside this state that would be valid by the laws of the jurisdiction in which the marriage was contracted is valid in this state".〔California Family Code, (Section 308 )〕 Advocates of Proposition 22 described Section 308 as a "loophole", apparently forcing California to recognize a same-sex marriage validly contracted in some other state.〔2000 California Primary Election, Voter Information Guide, (Rebuttal to Argument Against Proposition 22 )〕 To address this, Proposition 22 did not reword the existing provisions of the Family Code, but added to them the declaration that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California".〔2000 California Primary Election, Voter Information Guide, (Text of Proposition 22 )〕 The official citation of Proposition 22, the "California Defense of Marriage Act", is almost the same as that of a federal law, the Defense of Marriage Act, which was enacted by Congress in 1996. This federal law had a similar purpose, and was intended to prevent any state from being obligated to recognize a same-sex marriage contracted in another state. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「California Proposition 22 (2000)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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