BALIF Press Release on Prop. 8 and DOMA Ruling

For immediate release:
Please contact Edward Joy
BALIF Board Member & Community Ambassador
415-608-6727, communityambassador@balif.org

Proposition 8- Click here for a PDF of the Press Release

San Francisco Bay Area's LGBT Bar Association Overjoyed at Supreme Court Decision
BALIF joined by 22 minority bar associations

June 26, 2013 - San Francisco, California - Today, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Hollingsworth v. Perry that the proponents of Proposition 8 had no standing to assert their position, thus leaving in place the decision of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, holding that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional as applied to California. Proposition 8 is now dead, and same-sex couples will be free to marry in California. Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF), the San Francisco Bay Area's LGBT Bar Association, is overjoyed at this result.

Today's decision finally terminates a long struggle in California for BALIF and other proponents of marriage equality. BALIF has been committed to overturning Proposition 8 since it was first passed by California voters in 2008, and has participated in the marriage equality fight in virtually every stage of the litigation. BALIF filed an amicus brief in the 2007 California Supreme Court case that declared the prohibition of same-sex marriage a violation of the California Constitution as it then existed. When Prop 8 amended the California Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage and the Hollingsworth v. Perry case was filed to challenge it, BALIF again took an active role in every battle. BALIF filed an amicus brief when the case was in the district court, an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and finally an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court.

In addition to its actions in court, hundreds of BALIF's members have marched, protested, donated, and lobbied throughout the course of this campaign. We note, however, that the struggle for marriage equality is not over. The Court's decision today means that although same-sex marriage will be permitted in California, our brothers and sisters in the vast majority of other states will still be denied this fundamental right. BALIF will do all it can to help remedy this injustice through judicial, legislative, or electoral means. According to Edward Joy, BALIF Board Member and Community Ambassador, "The Supreme Court came down on the right side of history today. And we have no doubt that marriage equality will ultimately be the law of the land throughout the country, whether through the ballot box or through the courts."

BALIF recognizes that although the cause of marriage equality has been central to its mission as an organization over the past decade, we have received tremendous support from our fellow minority bar associations. They have supported us not necessarily because marriage equality is central to their own missions, but because they support the cause of equality for all. BALIF acknowledges and thanks these organizations who have supported marriage equality, and in many cases joined in BALIF amicus briefs throughout this process.