Ted Olson and David Boies File Supreme Court Brief Asking that Prop 8 Be Struck Down

The briefs in support of gay marriage and the striking down of Proposition 8 have begun to be filed with the American Foundation for Equal Rights ("AFER") submitting its brief yesterday.  On the brief are David Boies and Ted Olson as well as mega-law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher based in Los Angeles.   The brief argues at the broadest level that anti-gay marriage laws and state constitutional amendments are discriminatory and need to be struck down under the U. S. Constitution.   In as much as there is NOTHING to support these anti-gay laws and amendments other than religious based discrimination and animus, the U.S. Supreme Court should, if intellectually honest and consistent with its pass rulings should issue a broad ruling ending all anti-gay marriage laws and amendments nationwide.  As noted earlier in the week, the Mexican Supreme Court saw this reality when it struck down a gay marriage ban and relied on Loving v. Virginia and Brown v. Board of Education as supporting authority.  BuzzFeed looks at the brief filing.  Here are article highlights:

Nearly four years after filing the case, Ted Olson and David Boies told the Supreme Court Thursday that the Constitution "does not tolerate the permanent exclusion of gay men and lesbians from the most important relation in life" — marriage.

As part of the challenge to California's Proposition 8 that the two lawyers have brought on behalf of two same-sex couples unable to marry in the state, Olson and Boies argue both broadly for a constitutional right to marry that should include same-sex couples and more narrowly that the vote in November 2008 to end same-sex couples' right to marry in California was unconstitutional.

"The unmistakable purpose and effect of Proposition 8 is to stigmatize gay men and lesbians—and them alone—and enshrine in California's Constitution that they are 'unequal to everyone else,'" they write.

The Supreme Court is schedule to hear the arguments in the case on March 26, and a decision is expected by late June.

Here is an excerpt from the brief itself:

“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.”

View the full brief here. The forces in support of Proposition 8 largely base their argument on the lie that sexual orientation is a "choice" - despite the findings of every legitimate medical and mental health association in America - and that marriage should be reserved to those who can procreate while ignoring the fact that countless heterosexual couples who cannot have children are allowed to marry virtually every day of the year.  It is sadly the typical dishonesty one can expect from those who seek to force their religious beliefs on all Americans and who seek to punish same sex couples for rejecting Christofascists beliefs.