Calif. court to consider gay rights case

SAN FRANCISCO, May 27 (UPI) -- The California Supreme Court, just weeks after legalizing gay marriage, will hear another potential landmark case Wednesday involving same-sex civil rights.

The court's seven justices will hear a case involving fertility physicians accused of discriminating against a lesbian couple by citing religious beliefs when they declined to performs artificial insemination, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Tuesday.

David Cruz, a constitutional law professor at the University of Southern California, said this case and the gay marriage case have a common thread. In the marriage case, same-sex couples argued that the state matrimony laws violated their equal-protection rights. In the pending case, gay rights advocates say the state civil rights law mandating equal treatment should override the doctors' constitutional rights to religious freedom, he said.

"The questions are linked," Cruz said. "In both cases, the question is how important is equality under California law?"

Guadalupe Benitez sued Drs. Christine Brody and Douglas Fenton in 2001.

"Religious liberty protects your right to believe as you wish, but not act in whatever manner a person might wish to based on those religious beliefs," said Benitez's attorney, Jennifer Pizer.