Diverse groups file legal briefs endorsing same-sex marriage

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

Hundreds of national civil rights groups, lawmakers, academics and cities submitted legal briefs to the California Supreme Court Wednesday in support of gay couples who are seeking to overturn state laws prohibiting same-sex marriage.

... They included the California chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

... Nineteen cities and counties filed briefs, including the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, Long Beach and Oakland. The Los Angeles County Bar Association, Bar Association of San Francisco, Santa Clara County Bar Association, Beverly Hills Bar Association and California Women Lawyers also signed on to those documents.

More than 400 religious organizations and clergy members filed an interfaith brief arguing that the constitutional principles of religious freedom and separation of church and state require that same-sex couples have equal access to civil marriage.


Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/384/story/149276.html

[Ian David]

1. YAY! K&R!

[Politicub]

2. Yay for the good guys!

A move back to Calif. is becoming more attractive each day.

[satya]

3. Argument based on the 1st amendment, rather than the 14th?

Seems pretty cut-and-dried to me:

Amendment XIV

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

<edited because clumsy fingers hit Post instead of Preview>

No more "separate but equal"; it's long past time to grant civil rights to ALL PERSONS.

[Robb]

4. What, no chambers of commerce?

Anyone worth their salt in marketing knows two gay men vacationing together spend more than a heterosexual married couple -- two (excuse the bluntness) man-sized salaries on the hoof. :D