Lawsuit! Prop 8 Challenged In Federal Court
Time to start bringing taking the fight to the next level and that's just what two Californian lawyers are doing. The Advocate reports that Theodore B. Olson and David Boies filed a challenge to Proposition 8 in the federal court as of May 22nd. These brilliant legal minds will defend their clients (two separate sets of gay couples) and argue that limiting same-sex couples to domestic partnerships instead of granting them full marriage rights is a "violation of the equal protection and due process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution."
That's what we're saying!
What's truly amazing is that Olson comes to the cause after spending three years under the Bush administration, but insists that even while Bush wanted to endorsed an amendment to the U.S. constitution that would prohibit same-sex marriage, he never stood behind it.
Better late than never to show good judgement.
Olson says: “For a long time I’ve personally felt that we are doing a grave injustice for people throughout this country by denying equality to gay and lesbian individuals. The individuals that we represent and will be representing in this case feel they’re being denied their rights. And they’re entitled to have a court vindicate those rights.”
Olson, Boies, and other attorneys working on the suit are mostly working pro bono, but are also working alongside the American Foundation for Equal Rights, a truly motivating force in the fight for same sex marriage.
Best of luck to everyone working on the case and for the cause!
[Image via WENN.]
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i know perez get over it …… boringgggg
Is this going to be the topic of every other post for the rest of time? Start a separate blog for this, would you? *Yawn*
If marriage didn't mean anything for legal reasons like DNR rights, taxes, adoption and wills, none of this would matter. Love is Love, everybody knows that. If they give you the aforementioned rights but not the technical word "marriage" would you be happy? Come on, America can't change. Make due. We all wish for there to be peace and love, but the US just doesn't feel it. Not even the black prez.
Wonderful!
Hell yes!
They'll win it.
Just wanna say, wtf, F*ck all these so-called Hollywood Super Stars!!
True beauties are actually among ourselves, check this out ______Tallconnect.com______ hot and sincere tall girlrs, young girls and handsome men there are much more attractive and charming!!!! search and find our own beauties today!!! lol
hm…
Marriage does not need to be REDEFINED. It has been defined for hundreds if not thousands of years. It's a product of religion. A religious act/ritual/ceremony. Promise before God between a man and a woman.
It's the STATE AKA Government who DID NOT follow the law "SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE" and decided to capitalize on a religious act "MARRIAGE."
Shame on the church/religion for not protesting the GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION and reminding the STATE AKA (gov't) of "SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE" Besides I don't like the idea of having to AKS THE GOV'T for their PERMISSION of something that is my RIGHT. The church can keep their marriage intact and others gay, straight can have their own commitment/union ceremonies…why ask either one for permission or blessings.
I have no problem with ALL people having contracts/unions/commitment ceremonies of any kind outside of church/religion.
But it's clear, "marriage" has been defined and has been for years. It doesn't need to be redefined. HOWEVER, the GOVERNMENT as usual, uses INTERVENTION to simultaneously make a GREAT divide among the people and will TAKE a religious ritual and turn it into a profit as well as a great divide to distract people of the real plundering that is going on, the robbing of ALL the people's Liberties and Freedom.
MAINSTREAM MORAL AMERICA HAS SPOKEN. PERIOD.
I don't get it. If gay people are stupid enough to want to get married - let them get married.
start GayPerezHilton.com for all those who want non-stop gay news! Leave this site for celebrity gossip before everyone simple leaves this site.
Why challenge it in court….if that many people wanted the right…THEY SHOULD HAVE VOTED!!!!! do not complain after the fact…GET OFF YOUR ASSES AND VOTE FOR FUCK'S SAKE!!!!!!!!
It's people who say things like, "Yea, kill them all" that makes it obvious gays and lesbians need more rights. This is a genius idea and I really hope they'll win.
Not hate! Just don't want to redefine marriage. When people don't agree, it is considered homophobic! You heterophobe! Can't get your way in everything. LOL
WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH CELEBRITIES? YOUR WEBSITE IS GETTING SO SO BORING. PEREZ IS FAT
prop 8 stands! we won in calif, now we are going to the rest of the usa and finish the job
this is so very sad. instead of trying to expand you domestic partnership rights, you're trying to take the rights of others. and this quite intelligent approach comes AFTER you gays spilled your hated all over america/the world - with your fucking nonsense. if these two lawyers came up with it in november/december it would have been way more effective.
though i'm still not homophobic - i hope you lose and learn. and after that i hope you'll ever get a chance to make things right - cause for now it rather looks as if your behaviour is backlashing.
US SUPREME COURT:
""The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men. Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival."
Re: epic – They are trying to "take the rights of others". What crack have you been smoking??? 18,000 people are married in CA RIGHT NOW, and no heterosexual marriage has been impacted because of it. People like you are so desperate to find a victim out of same sex marriage that they make fools of themselves.
Re: waterstar – What about the religions who are behind gay marriage? There are many who are. All people should be allowed the civil part of marriage and those churches that wish to allow gay marriage should be allowed - those that don't like it should have the freedom to not marry gay couples.
The real people who are being denied religious freedom are those churches who back equality and are told by the government they can not marry same sex couples!
Re: KateM – So true reading this site you see how much hate there is out there and why gay people need equal rights and even protection. I would be ashamed to even type such bigoted posts!
ALL OF YOU POSTING HATFUL VILE DISGUSTING COMMENTS ARE BIGOTED EVIL SMALL MINDED ANIMALS!
esp. HoT&SEXYMEOW……….you are close second to hitler saying gays should be killed, Awful just an ugly soul you own.
My girlfriend think's that Prop 8 is stupid.
@Hot'N'SexyMeow "stop trying to change something thats not going to change. its been this way from the begining of time. ITS ADAM AND EVE NOT ADAM AND STEVEN!!!!"
Ok, now just to prove your ignorance:
1. It IS going to change. History speaks of the future.
2. It has not been like that since the beginning of time. Marriage, the way we know it, has only been around a relatively short amount of time.
3. Steven doesn't rhyme with Eve, moron.
Perez, the wonderful people of California already voted against gay marriage. Get it, we are a damn democracy, we vote yay, or nay!!! THE PEOPLE SAID NO!!
Homophobia is ignorance of the physiology of the human body. Ignorance of the temples that are our bodies.
California is going to stop the descrimination eventually. I can't help but think all these resources and time that are being spent on fighting descrimination could be used to make the lives of children better or feed the wrold's hungry.
Shame on you, judges.
Re: witchywomn – They BARELY voted against it (52-48%) and people were manipulated and lied to…told their Churches would be sued and shut down. They voted out of fear. The number of people who support equal rights is increasing by the minute. It will happen and then you'll be the hick sitting there married to your first cousin saying you never believed you'd see the day…
Perez clearly hates heterosexual people. Why should they support the cause?
Best luck to Olsen and Boies and their clients.
The interesting thing is you have one Lawyer from the Bush Admin, and another who was Al Gore's attorney together on this one.
from what i understand it was the majority of california tht voted against the whole issue. so its the state that wasnt 4 it.
deal with it man
and start posting real issues
i cant get this point thru enough. its annoyin
stop shoving ur gay agenda down ppls throats…thts how u push ppl away!
Bad idea. Hopefully the Supreme court won't hear the case. Otherwise anywhere they have made same sex marriage legal - it will be illegal. The supreme court will never grant that and it will just take it away from the states that made it legal.
Haha…it's over and you lost Mario. Yesterdays decision showed that there
is some common sense in this world afterall. You cannot force your gay agenda on people. Other than liberal fools and those that live in Tinseltown, the vast majority of Americans don't want gay marriage. Deal with it.
Re: KOOL KID – 29 It my hope that the couples being represented contend their religious freedoms are being denied by the current laws. This goes hand-in-hand with the reality that gay civil marriage equality does not intend to change the way any church runs itself.
I am a born again Christian. With that being said I am sick of hearing about the gay and lesbian equality on both sides. We were put on this earth for a reason: to do the work of our lord and saviour Jesus Christ. With that being said, no one is perfect but God! If that were true then there would be no reason for Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. I do believe all is equal, but let us not forget that the specifics of man and man, or women and women are in the most important resource we need the BIBLE. I am not put here to judge and I don't think gays and lesbians are going to hell, that isn't for anyone to decide but God. You get to heaven through God and the blood of Jesus Christ. You have to be saved to get to heaven, you don't get there by your sins on this earth although you have to repent. It is our job to do the best we can to do the right thing. I think Gays are confused, as well as drug addicts, alcoholics, prostitues, and so forth. There is no one sin worse than the other. We have to stand up for what we believe in which is what the Country is trying to do, but some are going about it all wrong. Ridiculing and pointing fingers isn't the way to do it. It is wrong and that is that.
Perez, i'm sorry. u really r wrong. Y, oh y does adam have to talk about his sexual orientation????? You scream and cry equality yet you never expect straight people to talk about who they like to sleep with. What difference does it make????
Olson lost his wife on 9/11 when the plane she was in was hijacked and flown into one of the Twin Towers.
you know your hypocrisy is amazing. one minute you say let the states decide, and when the state decides to not go along with your thinking, you cry foul. just like how vicious you attacked miley, but the moment she came out to support gay marriages you suck the corn kernels out her shit. get over it! you lost, move on. live it, learn from it, but let it go!
I don't understand these people who think they can tell Perez what he can and can't publish on his own blog. If you don't like what he's writing about, then don't come here… and if you hate him so much, why did you take the time to sign up and add your own avatar?
Fucking IDIOTS.
Keep on fighting, Perez! Stop the H8. There are a hundred people who support you and your causes for every dumbass that comes here just to shit-talk.
local law cannot take away protections provided to citizen's under the US constitution. We are all equal..you cannot differentiate between men and women…and sexual orientation is to be considered a "protected class" of the population to prevent those citizen's from being discriminated against. Why do people think it is okay to think of gay people as lesser individuals when they are just who they are………..Good sound logic will prevail in the long run, it is just exhausting waiting for the logical people to bring us into the light of day.
Re: witchywomn – but you voted to discriminate aginst your fellow citizens, that is not okay in the United States
Olson and Boies were the lawyers for Bush v. Gore, respectively. How interesting that they joined forces on this case!
I don't care what the Government decides, doesn't mean that I have to vote for it and by extension endorse it. Gays act like this is all about health care and crap like that. It's about MAKING people accept them as normal. I'd like to see the government legislate that. I will NEVER accept Gay as normal or natural. Having said that, I don't wish them any harm. I don't think Perez is doing the Gays any favor by trying to FORCE this issue down his readers throats.
I do not get it. If this was reversed. Meaning is Prop 8 did not pass in the first place. Would you not be crazy pissed if the court was involved at all in overturning the vote of the people. Get over it. You are being hypocritical.
YAY!!! I LOVE THEM!!! they need to win. what the court did yesterday was some bullshit. how the EFF are they gonna allow SOME gay marriages (ones already married) but not others? it's so scary that even the supreme courts in this country don't know WTF they're doing. especially since THEY voted in FAVOR of gay marriage last year allowing for 1800 gay marriages which will now remain legal…uggghhhh my head hurts.
and all the homophobes on here please STFU and go play in traffic, you people disgust me with your holier than thou attitude and your mascots and role models like f*cking mel gibson…mr. catholic of the year who isn't even divorced yet and has some other skank knocked up…yeah hetro marriages are so very sacred…just like how "god" intended…you know…go get drunk in Vegas go to a drive thru chapel and then when you wake up in the morning go get your marriage annulled . PUKE!!!
Re: UsernameJodie – #27 WOW so ugly on the outside AND inside. I for one want nothing to do with YOUR god…he can suck on my used tampon if he promotes the kind of hate you exude. yuck so creepy and disgusting.
yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
sweetpat needs to spend his time somewhere else, maybe with a date?
Time to start bringing taking??? Don't you proof read?
What's funny is if they had won the original vote, Perez, being lopsided as usual, wouldn't be commenting about the other side's fight.
It's about similar circumstances and gay and straight couples are not the samEqual protection
equal protection: an overview
The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from denying any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. See U.S. Const. amend. XIV. In other words, the laws of a state must treat an individual in the same manner as others in similar conditions and circumstances. A violation would occur, for example, if a state prohibited an individual from entering into an employment contract because he or she was a member of a particular race. The equal protection clause is not intended to provide "equality" among individuals or classes but only "equal application" of the laws. The result, therefore, of a law is not relevant so long as there is no discrimination in its application. By denying states the ability to discriminate, the equal protection clause of the Constitution is crucial to the protection of civil rights. See Civil Rights.
e. Equal protection is not having the exact same thing:
lol this lawsuit is laughable.
The equal protection clause only applies when you have two individuals who are treated differently under the same law based on some attribute. Before prop. 8, the Cali supreme court ruled that any individual could marry any other individual of any gender, and then prop. 8 amended the constitution and changed the law to state that no individual can marry another individual of the same gender. Gay people and straight people have the exact same law applied to them in the exact same way without discrimination. There is no case.
"Similar circumstances" is what the 14th amendment is about. That's why people of different circumstances can be taxed differently or men and women can have Boy or Girl Scouts. It comes down to legalese and the fact you can have equal opportunity for those with similar circumstances. Men and women are classified as different circumstances as are gay and straight. That both can enjoy equal protection without being in the same classification.
No one is thought of as lesser, there is always classification of "similar circumstances" under the law. All criminals are not treated equally, they are classified under "similar circumstances" as are men and women. We are not all the same, but, allowed equal protections.
Amen, tiresome, tiresome topic. Never ending harrange over people who want to marry same-sex homosexual partners, farm animals, multiple other people… We don't care! Doesn't everyone in California, at least, have the same rights–as domestic partners? Why do you have to sully the word "marriage?" "I'd like you to meet my wife Arthur." So effed up.
Re: Renfamous – #61 one flaw with your logic…there are GAY couples who got married last year and their marriages remain legal. THAT IS discrimination. wouldn't you say?
marriage is between one man and one woman
what if i wanted to marry my dog, or have 3 husbands , where do we draw the line…. get over it perez!
Re: b a t k i s s –
Mr. Olson's wife was one of the many MURDERED on 9/11. He is a very highly respected attorney. I wish him luck and thank him for his ability to see this issue NOT as one of "gay rights", but one of upholding the US Constitution.
Re: Puffin –
That's true, but it's also true that Prop. 8 wasn't retroactive…the marriges occurred when it was legal to do so. A change in the law changes the circumstances…you can't sue the federal government when tax rates go up just because your 70-year-old neighbor got to pay the lower rate his entire life. The only way gay marriage will be legalized for good is if the people will it so through a vote. All of this litigation and rioting is just serving to turn the average voter against the gay cause.
WOOHOO!! Stop the H8!!!!
Just to clarify for all the bloggers that think us christians think we are "holier than thou". I can only speak for myself, and as I said in my earlier blog I absolutely DON'T think I am any better than anyone including Gays and Lesbians, nor do I think I am "holier than thou", nor am I a Homophobe, I would treat you with the same respect if I were talking to you, working with you, having dinner with you or whatever if you were Gay, but that doesn't mean we have to agree with your choices. I sin everday as well as everyone else does. As I said we are put here to do our BEST in the eyes of God, which clearly isn't Gay Marriage, and your right, getting drunk in bars and marrying someone you barely know and then getting it annulled the next day is also WRONG, however we aren't trying to pass a law that states you can or can't do that. Although you are right and as I said earlier Sin is Sin. This is just my opinion and belief on the issue we are talking about.
Re: waterstar – I COMPLETELY AGREE! This has been my point all along. I am a Catholic who says that gays have a right to get married in any church that will marry them. Religious freedom means freedom from the government, too.
If these lawyers were really smart they would take it from that perspective and they might actually win this ability.
Re: UsernameJodie – With all do respect and I do genually mean that, your attitude is not the best way to go about your beliefs, nor will it turn non believers into believers. Those comments are what give us Christians a bad name. Sorry but true.
Re: Renfamous – why do you think that the gay community fighting for their RIGHTS will turn the average voters against the cause? I don't understand that. they just want equal rights, they are not trying to take rights away from the average voters.
and I get what you mean about tax laws, but the way I see it is tax laws may change but then everyone that falls in the same TAX BRACKET pays the same taxes, in other words the new tax law would not allow some folks to pay the old tax rate but not others. the way the prop 8 ruling stands it allows (or recognizes) some gay marriages but not others. that's so twisted. and it also means as long as "the majority" agrees ANY right can be taken away from ANY group. that to me is scary.
well, there goes democracy. Way to go you whiny bitches.
There isn't 100% proof that people are born gay. Some people say yes some people say no..GIVE IT UP
Re: KOOL KID – NAME the religionS that says they perform "SAME SEX MARRIAGES"
"those churches who back equality and are told by the government they can not marry same sex couples!" NAME those churches.
Re: KOOL KID – I think you miss my point. If there is a church that believes in the union of same sex couples and performs and redefines marriage, then so be it. Religions/churches perform marriages for men and women that's fine too. My point is the GOVERNMENT SHOULD HAVE NOT SAY IN THIS. That's what's turning this whole thing into a circus…dividing people. There are rude people saying things here just to probably get a rise from folks but those people who truly believe in marriage as being only for a man & woman aren't homophobes, bad people. Marriage is a religious product & a marriage between a same sex couple for these folks is "blasphemy" in their eyes & in the Bible…that's their belief and they have a right to it…just like you have your right to believe the opposite and that's OK too. FOCUS on the real enemy…YOUR GOVERNMENT!!!
I think it is pretty funny that people are commenting on how he should post real issues on here…if you want to read about real issues why are you reading a gossip blog? As for those of you who call him a fag and fat, ignorance is bliss I guess. Furthermore, why do people even care if two people they do not even know want to get married? Live your own life instead of worrying about how others live theirs.