Groups fail to block same-sex marriage licenses
Judge puts off hearing on restraining order until Tuesday
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Gay and lesbian couples flocked to San Francisco's City Hall for marriage licenses. Some then got married on the spot.
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As San Francisco churns out licenses, a conservative group is heading to court to try and block them.
Drawing protesters on both sides of the issue, Massachusetts lawmakers are considering a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
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SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- A Superior Court judge rejected a motion Friday from a conservative group that asked for an immediate temporary restraining order to stop San Francisco from issuing same-sex marriage licenses.
Judge James Warren delayed the hearing until Tuesday, saying the group had given insufficient notice of the request.
The Alliance Defense Fund, based in Arizona, said in a statement on its Web site that the city is acting "in blatant violation of state law."
A separate group, Campaign for California Families, sued San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and County Clerk Nancy Alfaro on Friday "for violating California state law on marriage and the issuing of marriage licenses."
California law defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman, The Associated Press reported.
A directive from Newsom ordered the county clerk to begin issuing the marriage licenses Thursday.
As word spread, couples flocked to City Hall. Officials issued 95 marriage licenses to same-sex couples before closing for the day. The Associated Press reported that 87 couples were married on the spot.
Officials told the remaining couples to come back Friday, according to the AP. As of Friday afternoon, 489 couples had gotten married, the AP reported.
The first to be married Thursday were Phyllis Lyon, 80, and Dorothy Martin, 83, who have been together 51 years.
"We have a right just like anyone else to get married to the person we want to get married to," Lyon said. (Full story)
Newsom said not granting same-sex couples marriage licenses is discriminatory.
"We are reading the direct language within the state constitution, and we directed our county clerk to do the right thing and extend the privilege that's extended to my wife and myself and millions of us across the country to same-sex couples," the mayor told CNN on Friday.
Newsom said he did not accept that gay marriages were against state law, again citing the California Constitution.
"Where is the fundamental decency to extend the same privileges and rights the rest of us are afforded?" the mayor asked. "What is the fundamental right to perpetuate a policy of separate but unequal that people seem to suggest is a compromise?"
The issuing of the licenses came as lawmakers in Massachusetts attempted to produce a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
Late Thursday, the Legislature voted down a third attempt in two days at the legislation.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in November that gay men and lesbians cannot be forbidden from joining in civil marriages under the Massachusetts Constitution. Last week, in response to a question from the state Senate, the court said civil unions would not be an acceptable substitute.
The court has ordered the Legislature to allow gay men and lesbians to marry by May. (Full story)
In San Francisco, Newsom said he had not discussed his action with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The governor said before he was elected in October's recall election that he believed marriage was between a man and a woman, but he said he approves of some kind of domestic partnership.
"I feel strongly and passionately about this," Newsom said. "I don't know where the governor stands."
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
