USC NAACP – Gender Neutral Act

Existing California law provides that marriage is a personal relation arising out of a civil contract between a man and a woman. It provides for the issuance of marriage licenses and imposes duties on county clerks in that connection, as specified. The NAACP-USC chapter supports a marriage act that would provide that marriage is a personal relation arising out of a civil contract between 2 persons regardless of gender supported by the following arguments:

Whereas California’s exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage denies those couples and their families legal rights and responsibilities under state law, thereby depriving them of the right to challenge federal laws that deny access to federal benefits and obligations provided to spouses.

Whereas there are more than 1,049 federal measures contingent on marital status and more than 300 privileges and responsibilities accrued to married couples under state law including and not limited to healthcare benefits, automatic inheritance rights, right to visit a partner in the hospital, ability to become guardian if one’s partner is incapacitated, right to buy and own property together, among many others.

Whereas until 1977 the state’s marriage law was not gender specific and not exclusionary.

Whereas different-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions are automatically recognized by other cities, states, and countries. However should same-sex couples gain the freedom to marry, however, the federal "Defense of Marriage Act" and similar state laws may perpetuate discrimination against their marriages across state lines, requiring further legal challenges.

Whereas religion should not be manipulated as a political tool to dictate state or federal policy which discriminates against any minority group.

Whereas the notion of civil unions as something distinctive from marriage equates to “separate but equal.”

Whereas California’s exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage further harms these couples and their families by denying them the unique public recognition and affirmation that marriage confers on heterosexual couples

According to reasons cited above, the NAACP-USC chapter encourages and celebrates loving and stable relationships regardless of sexual orientation by believing that it is in the benefit of the general community when couples undertake the mutual obligations of marriage. The NAACP-USC chapter opposes the pernicious practice of marriage discrimination in California and supports amendment to California’s Family Code providing for a gender-neutral marriage act.