California Supreme Court to rule tomorrow on Marriage Rights for Gay and Lesbian Couples

The California Supreme Court has announced that it will rule tomorrow, May 15, 2008, on whether barring same-sex couples from marriage violates the state constitution.  

 

Lawsuits challenging the marriage ban were filed in March 2004, immediately after the California Supreme Court ordered the City of San Francisco to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.   Fifteen couples are represented by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, Heller Ehrman LLP, and the Law Office of David C. Codell.  The cases, along with four others, were consolidated into one appeal, In re Marriage Cases, which eventually made its way to the Supreme Court.

However the Court decides, the ruling will make history and have enormous impact on the movement for gay and lesbian civil rights, as well as the lives of many thousands of same-sex couples and their families across the country.  It also will set the stage for a battle to protect the California Constitution from an anti-gay constitutional amendment initiative likely to appear on the November ballot.