The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) is among the roughly dozen religious denominations calling on the Supreme Court to uphold state bans on gay marriage.

The nation's highest court will hear arguments in a case challenging bans in four states later this month, with a ruling expected in June.

“Representative democracy matters to religious organizations and people of faith,” the churches wrote in an amicus brief filed in the case. “Their capacity to build communities where their values are respected and their ways of life protected depends on the pluralism that our democratic institutions foster and secure.”

“To de­clare an unprecedented constitutional right to same-sex marriage would deny people of faith who support traditional marriage the liberty to participate as equal citizens in deciding which values and policies will govern their communities. We urge the Court to trust the people and their democratic institutions to resolve the marriage issue, as it has on other divisive issues so many times.”

Other churches that signed on to the brief include Assemblies of God, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod.

(Brief provided by Equality Case Files.)