SB 1306, a bill that would remove language from the state Family Code defining marriage as between “man and woman” and replace it with gender-neutral language, cleared the state Senate on Thursday.
According to a report from NBC San Diego, the bill would also limit California’s ability to challenge same-sex marriages performed outside the state.
Democrat Sen. Mark Leno of San Francisco said the bill would remove “discriminatory language” from the state Family Code.
Just one Republican, Sen. Jim Nielsen of Gerber, spoke out against the bill:
I cannot bring myself, though, to diminish the words “husband and wife,” and this clearly does that. Throughout history, those words have been widely used and accepted. They’re kind of sacred terms, I would argue, and by this bill we are diminishing those very important words.
The bill seeks to define marriage as “a personal relation arising from a civil contract between two persons,” according to the language of the bill.
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