Lynn Holton, a spokeswoman for the
California Supreme Court, said she expects the court to rule as early
as this week on a lawsuit that seeks to invalidate Proposition 8 –
the recently-passed constitutional amendment that yanks back the
right of gays and lesbians to marry in California.
Pro-gay rights groups filed the motion
on Wednesday, the day after the election, arguing that Prop 8 is
invalid because it alters the constitution's “core commitment to
equality for everyone by eliminating a fundamental right from just
one group, lesbian and gay Californians.”
To make such a radial change to the
constitution would require the approval of the legislature first, the
pro-gay rights groups say.
More than one-third of California's
lawmakers – including Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, Senate President
pro Tem Don Perata, and incoming Senate President pro Tem Darrell
Steinberg – agree that Prop 8 used an improper vehicle, the ballot
box, to amend the constitution to ban gay marriage, reports The
Associated Press.
In a friend-of-the-court brief in
support of the lawsuit, forty-four members of the California
Legislature said they believed the gay marriage ban should be
reversed.
And over the weekend, California
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger came out swinging in favor of gay
activists who have been protesting the gay marriage ban in the
streets of California since Wednesday.
“It's unfortunate, obviously, but
it's not the end,” Schwarzenegger said in a CNN interview. “I
think that we will again maybe undo that, if the court is willing to
do that, and then move forward from there and again lead in that
area.”
Using his own weight lifting
experience, the governor said: “I learned that you should never,
ever give up ... They should never give up. They should be on it and
on it until they get it done.”
Gay marriage foes have called the
lawsuit “frivolous” and “an insult to voters.”