BEVERLY HILLS (CNS) -- For the fifth time, two women were denied today in their effort to obtain a marriage license in Beverly Hills.
Robin Tyler and Diane Olson first sought a marriage license at the Beverly Hills Courthouse on Feb. 12, 2004, a date gay advocacy groups designated as National Freedom to Marry Day because of its proximity to Lincoln's Birthday and Valentine's Day -- perceived links to equality and love.
Eleven days later, Olson and Tyler and another same-sex couple who had been denied a marriage license, the Rev. Troy Perry and Phillip DeBlieck, filed suit to challenge California's ban on same-sex marriages.
``Both couples have been in loving, committed, long-term stable relationships,'' the couples' attorney, Gloria Allred said. ``They were seeking all of the legal rights and responsibilities which the law recognizes in `marriage.' Unfortunately, Los Angeles County has denied them the right to marry the person of their choice.''
In 2000, voters approved Proposition 22, which declares that only a marriage between a man and a woman is recognized in California.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer ruled in 2005 that banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional gender discrimination. That decision was overturned by an appeals court panel in 2006.
The California Supreme Court agreed last week to hear arguments in the case March 4.
Allred said she hoped this would be the last year Olson and Tyler would be denied a license.
``It's heartbreaking to see such loving couples denied the right to marry the person they love,'' she said.
Allred said Olson and Tyler continue to try to get a marriage license because ``we want everyone to know that these couples are still together, they still want to marry and they want the Supreme Court to decide that they should be able to enjoy the right to marry.''
When Olson and Tyler attempt to get a marriage license, they are handed a flier stating that only a marriage between a man and a woman is recognized in California and referring them to their state legislators, according to Grace Chavez, a spokeswoman with the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, which oversees marriage licenses in the county.
Olson is a granddaughter of Culbert L. Olson, California's governor from 1939-43.
Allred said her brief to the Supreme Court argued that Proposition 22 violates the equal protection clause of California's constitution.
``We argued that an individual enjoys a fundamental, constitutional right to marry and that right includes the right to marry the person of one's choice,'' Allred said.
Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children a Families, a leading California pro-family organization, said ``marriage is naturally for a man and a woman.''
``Children without a father or without a mother on average fair worse than children with a married father and mother, all under the same roof. If the institution of marriage is redefined and therefore destroyed in the law, the wellbeing of children is threatened, both emotionally, socially, even physically,'' Thomasson said.
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