AFER lawyers Ted Olson and David Boies have joined a lawsuit
challenging the constitutionality of Virginia's gay marriage ban.
The American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) announced Monday
that it was joining the case that takes aim at Virginia's laws which
prohibit the state from recognizing any relationship other than a
heterosexual marriage.
Olson and Boies represented two gay couples who were denied a
marriage license because of Proposition 8, California's 2008
voter-approved constitutional amendment limiting marriage to
heterosexual couples. The case reached the Supreme Court, which in
June ruled that defendants did not have legal standing in the case.
A lower court order invalidated the amendment and the marriages of
gay couples in California resumed.
Unlike California, where state officials refused to defend the
amendment, Virginia is energetically defending its amendment,
approved by voters in 2006.
Plaintiffs in the case, Bostic v. Raimey, include Timothy
Bostic and Tony London, who have been together nearly 25 years, and
Carol Schall and Mary Townley, who are raising a 15-year-old daughter
and whose California marriage is not recognized by the state. (A
video of the plaintiffs Bostic and London is embedded on this page.
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Olson told The
Washington Post that Virginia is an “attractive target”
because its amendment rejects all forms of recognition.
“The more unfairly people are being treated, the more obvious it
is that it's unconstitutional,” Olson told the paper.