Same-Sex Couples Have Their Day in Court Today in California

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Maya Harris
Executive Director
ACLU of Northern California

California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today challenging the constitutionality of denying same-sex couples the benefits and protections of marriage in the state (Watch oral arguments online, on television, or at a community viewing center starting around 9 a.m.).

The ACLU, Lambda Legal, Heller Ehrman LLP, the Law Office of David Codell, and lead counsel National Center for Lesbian Rights are representing 15 committed gay and lesbian couples as well as Equality California and Our Family Coalition.

The couples involved in this case have made life-long commitments to each other. Many of the couples are raising children together. Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin have been together for 55 years. Karen Shain and Jody Sokolower have been together for 36 years. The couples come from throughout the state and from all walks of life, ranging from a small business owner to a writer to a chiropractor.

The marriage case is among the most heavily briefed cases in the history of the California Supreme Court (See all the parties who filed amicus briefs supporting the freedom to marry; read the legal documents filed by the ACLU and co-counsel).

Late last year, more than 20 counties and municipalities filed a friend-of-the court brief in support of marriage for same-sex couples, including some of the most populous cities in California: Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, Long Beach, Sacramento, and Oakland.

Also registering their support for marriage equality were numerous legal and bar associations, many of the state’s leading constitutional law scholars and family law professors, and scores of religious and civil rights leaders and organizations, including the California NAACP, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, California Council of Churches, Asian Pacific American Legal Center, and National Black Justice Coalition.

It has been a long road to the high court since the city of San Francisco began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2004 (See the timeline).