Same-sex advocates filed arguments on Sept. 2, in a suit challenging the constitutionality of California marriage laws, which bans same-sex “marriage.”
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer will hold a hearing next Wednesday for challenges to state law, which have been consolidated into one case.
The plaintiffs are contending that voter-approved California’s marriage law, defining marriage to be between a man and a woman, is discriminatory and violates homosexual’s first amendment rights to marry. Defendant California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has yet to file arguments in support of state law in the case.
The Alliance Defense Fund, a leading organization opposing same-sex “marriage,” disagree with same-sex advocates, saying there is no right to same-sex “marriage” which undermines heterosexual unions.
A California Supreme Court ruling in August nullified some 4,000 marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples in San Francisco earlier this year which dealt a huge blow to the same-sex movement.
In that case, the Court also ruled that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom overstepped his power as a city official defying state law. Thursday’s filings are the latest attempts by same-sex advocates to legalize same-sex “marriage” in California and rely on arguments used to legalize same-sex “marriage” in Massachusetts.
However, challenges against laws protecting traditional marriage are not going unanswered. Several public policy groups and religious conservatives have taken the sprouting challenges as a cue to fight to preserve marriage laws.
A potential 12 states have approved initiatives allowing voters to define marriage as one man and one woman in upcoming ballot elections. The first of the twelve states to vote, Missouri, reported an overwhelming victory in keeping traditional marriage. Louisiana state voters will be next in line to vote on a constitutional marriage amendment banning same-sex “marriage” on Sept. 18.
North Dakota Family Alliance has also reported that North Dakota will also be voting on a measure defining marriage. On Wednesday, the secretary of state announced that North Dakota Family Alliance had 42,093 legal signatures, exceeding the required 25,688 to make it on the Nov. 2 ballot.
