State Class Action Lawsuit Filed in California Challenging New Constitutional Amendment Limiting Marriage to Heterosexuals

State Class Action Lawsuit Filed in California Challenging New Constitutional Amendment Limiting Marriage to Heterosexuals



SAN FRANCISCO, June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- A class action lawsuit Burns v. State of California Case No. CGC-08-481908 was filed on behalf of unmarried gays and lesbians in San Francisco Superior Court today, Friday June 26, 2009, one day before San Francisco's gay pride festival. This will be the first case in California's State Court challenging California's new Constitutional amendment limiting marriage to heterosexual couples. The Plaintiffs are represented by attorney Waukeen McCoy who successfully argued In Re Marriage Cases in 2008, which briefly allowed homosexuals the right to marry in California.

Last year, the California Supreme Court decided that California's statutory law denying same-sex couples the right to marry violated the privacy, due process, and equal protection provisions of the California State Constitution as it then read. Shortly after the decision, California's voters, by initiative, changed the text of the California Constitution by adding a new Section 7.5 to Article I. The new section reads "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

This lawsuit claims that section 7.5 of Article I violates the equal protection clause of the State Constitution. McCoy said, "we chose to bring this lawsuit in State Court rather than in Federal Court because sexual orientation is a protected class under California State Law and it is not recognized in Federal Law."