The first openly gay person to head either house of the California Legislature said Tuesday that gays and lesbians are “second-class citizens” because they cannot marry.

Assemblyman John Perez, a Los Angeles Democrat, said he is anxious over the outcome of the gay marriage trial under way this week in federal court in San Francisco. He will become speaker of the 80-member Assembly later this year.

“I think that gay and lesbian couples are treated as second-class citizens under the law as it’s currently enforced,” Perez said.

Perez, who is 40, said he is not in a relationship but would marry if he found the right man and had the legal right to do so. He said he has performed marriage ceremonies for same-sex and opposite-sex couples over the years, including eight same-sex marriages on the first day that gay marriages were legal in California.

The lawsuit being tried in San Francisco challenges a gay marriage ban subsequently enacted by California voters in 2008.

He called the trial a “monumental and historic case” and told The Associated Press that he is sure gays ultimately will win the right to marry.

Read the rest of the AP article here.