By Daily Press staff
Controversial Mayor Jason West of New Paltz, NY, visited Southern California Monday and was hailed by Santa Monica Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McKeown as a champion of equal constitutional protections.
West, 26, gained national notoriety in March when he performed some 25 marriages of same-sex couples. He told a gathering at West Hollywood City Hall that he has been charged under New York law with 24 misdemeanor counts of solemnizing a marriage without a license, with possible penalties of up to $24,000 in fines and 24 years in jail.
McKeown praised his fellow Green Party member.
“Civil marriage and its attendant dignity, protections and advantages must be available equally to all persons,” McKeown said. “This isn’t about the sanctity of sacramental marriage as performed in a church, it’s about fundamental legal equity."
The Green Party of California, on whose coordinating committee McKeown serves, recently passed a pioneering platform plank calling for full protection and equality for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and self-identified queer persons.
In California, marriage licenses cannot be issued by individual cities.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 13, 2004. Read the original PDF.