With the Supreme Court set to hear arguments in the federal challenge to Prop 8, Hollingsworth v. Perry, on March 26, 2013, Plaintiffs in the case filed the only brief they intend to submit to the Supreme Court prior to the hearings.
The brief, submitted by Plaintiffs' legal team, headed by Ted Olson and David Boies, concludes:
“Because of their sexual orientation—a characteristic with which they were born and which they cannot change—Plaintiffs and hundreds of thousands of gay men and lesbians in California and across the country are being excluded from one of life’s most precious relationships. They may not marry the person they love, the person with whom they wish to partner in building a family and with whom they wish to share their future and their most intimate and private dreams...
...Although opening to them participation in the unique and immensely valuable institution of marriage will not diminish the value or status of marriage for heterosexuals, withholding it causes infinite and permanent stigma, pain, and isolation. It denies gay men and lesbians their identity and their dignity; it labels their families as second-rate. That outcome cannot be squared with the principle of equality and the unalienable right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness that is the bedrock promise of America from the Declaration of Independence to the Fourteenth Amendment, and the dream of all Americans. This badge of inferiority, separateness, and inequality must be extinguished. When it is, America will be closer to fulfilling the aspirations of all its citizens.”
Read the entire powerful and eloquent appeal for equality here.
Meanwhile, President Obama is weighing whether his administration will file an amicus brief in the Prop 8 case before the February 28, 2013 deadline. In an interview with an ABC News affiliate in San Francisco, the President said that his solicitor general is still looking into it:
"The solicitor general is still looking at this. I have to make sure that I'm not interjecting myself too much into this process particularly when we're not a party to the case. I can tell you, though, obviously my personal view, which is that I think that same-sex couples should have the same rights and be treated like everybody else. And that's something that I feel very strongly about [and] my administration's acting on wherever we can."
If the administration chooses to file a brief arguing that Prop 8 is unconstitutional, many equality advocates believe it will put weight behind the historic words spoken by the President during his Inaugural address when he said, "Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well."
The Supreme Court will also be hearing arguments in the DOMA case, United States v. Windsor, on March 27, 2013. The Obama administration's Department of Justice announced in 2011 that it would no longer defend the constitutionality of DOMA.
Stay tuned!
