SAN FRANCISCO — A new court petition filed by groups dissatisfied with the decision of California voters to protect marriage demonstrates the contempt such groups have for the will of the people, according to attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund. The petition, filed with the California Supreme Court Wednesday, asks for an immediate stay of Proposition 8, which voters approved Tuesday.
“This lawsuit is a brazen attempt to gut the democratic process,” said ADF Senior Counsel Glen Lavy. “The people of California have spoken yet again, but that doesn’t mean anything to radical groups that want to impose their will at all costs. Once again, they are attempting to use the courts to push their agenda since they can’t achieve it legitimately at the ballot box.”
Attorneys with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, and the American Civil Liberties Union filed the suit, Strauss v. Horton, on behalf of a number of same-sex couples and the activist group Equality California. The suit claims that Proposition 8, which amends the California Constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, illegally revises the constitution rather than amending it to make a public policy change.
“The lawsuit is completely frivolous,” Lavy explained. “No structural revision to the state constitution has taken place here. The people have simply restored the definition of marriage that the constitution has always assumed.”
California voters approved Proposition 8 by 52 percent to 48 percent (www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4738). ADF attorneys were involved in defending the measure from attack prior to the election and also defended California’s Defense of Marriage Act, Proposition 22, before it was struck down by the California Supreme Court.
The adoption of Proposition 8 returns to California a one-man, one-woman definition of marriage, permanently correcting the California Supreme Court’s radical redefinition of marriage in May. As a consequence, the status of existing same-sex “marriage” licenses is in legal limbo.
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family. ADF President Alan Sears is co-author with Craig Osten of the book The ACLU vs. America (www.acluvsamerica.com).
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