Logue, Cleveland join court petition to invalidate licenses

Two Mid-Valley supervisors are signed onto a court petition filed Monday in Sacramento County Superior Court arguing new gender-neutral marriage licenses in California are not valid because state code requirements were not followed.

Yuba County Supervisor Dan Logue and Sutter County Supervisor Stan Cleveland were listed as signers of the petition, filed on their behalf by the Ramona-based United States Justice Foundation, or USJF, which describes itself as "seeking to advance the conservative viewpoint in the judicial arena." Along with Cleveland and Logue, the other petitioners are Nevada County Supervisor Sue Horne and Stanislaus County Supervisors Dick Monteith and Jim DeMartini. Logue and Horne were opponents in the recent primary for the Republican nomination in the 3rd state Assembly district, which Logue won.

The petition lists the state Department of Public Health's Office of Vital Records as the defendant.

In the petition, the supervisors argue that the Office of Vital Records did not meet state code requirement in altering marriage forms and regulations to be gender-neutral following the California Supreme Court's decision May 15 to strike down Prop 22, which banned same-sex marriage in California.

First, the office did not hold public hearings on altering marriage licenses or give 45 days notice the licenses would be altered, which they are required to do under the government code, the petition says. California clerks were informed about the altered licenses by the office 13 days after the court's decision.

Also, the supervisors argue the state Legislature has not amended the marriage requirements the court determined were unconstitutional.

A call to Logue on Monday night was not returned.

Cleveland said he was contacted by USJF about signing onto the petition, and said he did so because he thinks state law should be followed through properly.

"That has not be done, so they're circumventing, basically, state law," Cleveland said.

A hearing on the request was scheduled for this afternoon, The Associated Press reported.