COURT ALLOWS ANTI-GAY GROUPS TO DEFEND PROP 8

The California Supreme Court has ruled that anti-gay groups are entitled to defend the Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage in the state of California.

The ruling came as a result of both California’s governor and the attorney general, who both support same-sex marriage rights, choosing to not fight to retain the ban in the courts after it was ruled unconstitutional in August.

Anti-gay groups, led by ProtectMarriage, applied to appeal the ruling to retain the ban and the new ruling allows them to do so, even if the state’s government will not.

LGBT rights organisations had argued that ProtectMarriage had no authority or standing to represent the interests of the state’s citizens in lieu of the government.

The court disagreed, but commented that its ruling is a technical and procedural one and does not reflect on the matter or same-sex marriage itself.

Surprisingly, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), America’s largest LGBT rights group, took a positive approach to the news.

“With today’s decision, the case challenging Prop 8 returns to federal court and we are one step closer to ending discrimination against loving California couples,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese.

“Thousands of California families remain in legal limbo and we urge the Ninth Circuit to quickly issue its decision.”