Author of Calif. gay marriage ban diagnosed with leukemia

Wednesday May 05, 2004

SACRAMENTO (AP) California Sen. William J. ``Pete'' Knight, the
architect of the state's gay marriage ban, has been diagnosed with an
acute form of leukemia and may not return to Sacramento before he is
termed out of office in November, according to his Capitol office.

Knight, R-Palmdale, has been absent from his seat since April 12
because of his illness and ongoing medical testing. Other senators
have consented to shepherd his package of 24 bills, which includes a
measure that would require courts to put in writing their reasons for
ordering child support and another that would stiffen prison sentences
for people who evade police.

The 74-year-old senator, a retired Air Force colonel and
record-setting test pilot who trained for the space program, is best
known as author of the state's Defense of Marriage Act, a law that
states only marriages between a man and a woman are recognized as
valid in California.

After twice failing to get similar legislation through the
Legislature, Knight took it to voters, who passed it by more than 61
percent in 2000.

More recently, a nonprofit group the senator leads, the Proposition 22
Legal Defense and Education Fund, had been at the center of legal
efforts to overturn the nearly 4,000 marriages that were performed in
San Francisco earlier this year and to prevent a law granting
expanding spousal rights for domestic partners from taking effect in
January.

Knight, a former Palmdale mayor, has served in the Legislature since
1992, when he was elected to the Assembly. He was elected to his first
Senate term in 1996, and is slated to be termed out of office when his
second term ends this year.

Knight's office said he will be undergoing treatment for acute
myelogenous leukemia, which develops when there is a defect in bone
marrow. The disease is most frequently treated with chemotherapy,
radiation and stem cell transplants.


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