The American Foundation for Equal
Rights (AFER) announced Monday that it was closing its doors.
AFER was created to support the case
challenging Proposition 8, California's voter-approved constitutional
amendment limiting marriage to heterosexual couples.
The case, which reached the Supreme
Court in 2013, toppled the ban.
The following year, AFER successfully
took on Virginia's restrictive marriage ban.
In June, the Supreme Court ruled that
gay and lesbian couples have a constitutional right to marry.
“Nearly six years ago, the American
Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) was created with the specific
mission of arguing for marriage equality before the U.S. Supreme
Court and to, while doing so, dramatically advance the American
conversation on equality,” the group said in an email to
supporters.
“And we accomplished that … and so
much more.”
AFER went on to endorse the Equality
Act, a federal LGBT protections bill introduced by Democrats last
months.
(Related: Ted
Olson, David Boies endorse comprehensive LGBT non-discrimination
legislation.)
“So, while AFER may be closing is
doors, we are dedicating all remaining resources to the ongoing
battle for full equality,” the group concluded.