Gay marriage lawyers who challenged California's ban on same sex marriages urged the Supreme Court to allow such unions nationwide.
Lawyers supporting gay marriages, challenged California's Proposition 8, which puts a ban on same sex marriage, urging the Supreme Court to legalize gay marriages nationwide.
Prohibitions on gay marriages are mentioned in 30 state constitutions and another 10 other states have them enshrined in statutes. "This badge of inferiority, separateness, and inequality must be extinguished," the lawyers said in their legal brief filed with the Supreme Court. "We believe this is a matter of fundamental rights," said Washington attorney Ted Olson shortly after filing his legal brief with the high court.
Olson and co-counsel David Boies said they will present before the Supreme Court how letting people of the same sex get married is a part of the nation's history of equality and liberty. Both counselors said that because of Proposition 8, people who were born with this sexual orientation and cannot change it,are being deprived of the most sacred relationship of mankind. It keeps them from marrying the person they love, the person they want to build a family with and have a future with. According to Olson and Boies, denying people of the same sex the right to get married is like denying them their identity and dignity.
Next week President Obama will submit his decision on whether or not he will take part in this California case by filing a "friend of the court" brief.
"The solicitor general is still looking into this," President Obama said Wednesday in an interview with a San Francisco TV station. "I can tell you, though, obviously my personal view, which is that same-sex couples should have the same rights and be treated like everybody else.
