Gay groups are cheering Kamala Harris'
victory over anti-gay marriage Steve Cooley.
Harris, the current district attorney
of San Francisco, beat Los Angeles District Attorney Cooley to become
California's next attorney general. Cooley, a
Republican who said as attorney general he would defend California's
gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, conceded the race to Harris on
Wednesday.
“Today's decision in the attorney
general race means that equality triumphed in every California
statewide race,” the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER),
the group formed to challenge the constitutionality of Proposition 8,
said in a statement.
Harris, who enjoyed the endorsement of
Equality California, the state's largest gay advocate, promised to
“never defend the anti-LGBT Proposition 8 in federal court.”
“We're thrilled that our state has
elected a governor and an attorney general who will refuse to defend
Proposition 8 in court,” Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality
California, said.
An
appeals court will hear oral arguments on a lower court's ruling that
found the law unconstitutional on December 6. Governor-elect
Jerry Brown, as attorney general, refused to defend the law in court.