SUIT FILED VS. SAME-SEX BILL FOES: IT VIOLATES PROP. 22.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

SACRAMENTO - Supporters of extending marriage rights to same-sex couples did not have long to celebrate a new domestic partner law before opponents Monday moved to stop it.

In response to Gov. Gray Davis' signing of Assembly Bill 205 last week, state Sen. Pete Knight, R-Palmdale, filed a lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court to stop the implementation of the new law providing most rights and responsibilities of marriage to domestic partners.

``The bill changes the definition of marriage,'' Knight said. ``It changes the definition of families.''

The lawsuit argues the bill is unconstitutional because it violates Proposition 22, which recognizes only marriages between one man and one woman. Knight authored that ballot initiative.

The lawsuit names Davis, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley and two other state agencies as defendants.

Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, who wrote the bill, said Knight's lawsuit wasn't surprising. She said the Legislative Counsel of California reviewed the bill earlier this year and already decided it did not infringe on Proposition 22.

``The legislative counsel decided this was not marriage, that this was domestic partnership,'' Goldberg said. ``They're not going to win, but they'll raise a lot of money and confuse a lot of people.''

Goldberg said Assembly Bill 205 was meant to stop short of giving gay and lesbian Californians the right to marry others of the same sex, while expanding the rights of domestic partners in areas ranging from health coverage to property ownership and funeral arraignments. It gives both partners in a relationship equal status as parents if they have or adopt a child, and allows them to seek child support and alimony in the case of a split.

Knight's attorneys plan to ask the court on Oct. 25 to stop the implementation of the law until the case can be heard by a judge, said Robert Tyler, a lawyer for the conservative-oriented Alliance Defense Fund.

Proposition 22 was approved by 61 percent of voters in 2000. A recent Field Poll found that 72 percent of California voters surveyed voiced support for expanded rights for same-sex couples.

Knight, a retired Air Force test pilot, has long been the Legislature's leading opponent to gay marriage and official recognition of domestic partnerships. His son, who is gay, spoke out against Proposition 22.

Knight, a Vietnam War veteran, is expected to run for the state Board of Equalization next year, when he is prevented from running for re-election by term limits.