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Press Release
Contact Bill Mears                                                                       For Immediate Release

Web Site: www.cnn.com

　

Obama Urges Court to Overturn California Same-Sex Marriage Ban

Washington, DC March 1^st 2013- The Obama administration has always supported the general idea of same sex marriage in California. In a bold and brief instant, the Justice Department asserted gay and lesbian couples of the state to have "equal protection" to wed and that voters do not have the power to ban it. " Use of a voter initiative to promote democratic self governance can not save a law like proposition 8 that would otherwise violate legal protection", said the department. California’s 2008 proposition 8 revoked the right of same sex couples to wed after lawmakers and the state courts previously allowed it. Currently, forty one states still define marriage as being only between a man and a woman. Attorney General Erik Holder stated, " The government seeks to vindicate defining the constitutional ideal of equal treatment under the law. There are approximately 120,000 legally married same sex couples in the United States. However, the administration stated that so called " civil union laws in California to be unconstitutional. A 1996 law states that for federal purposes marriage is only defined as between a man and a woman. This converts to same sex couples not being able to retrieve federal tax, social security, pension, and family medical leave benefits. Obama has already faced strong opposition from republican lawmakers and social conservatives. He faces many difficult divisions such as how much money to spend in the upcoming months on expressing his views to the executive branch. He has obviously received strong support by gay rights groups and other democratic lawmakers. Many advocacy groups that represent both sides of the issue have dealt the high courts with briefs supporting their cases. California state governor Jerry Brown has stated that he is opposed of proposition 8. In February, a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled California’s measures unconstitutional. It stated that proposition 8, " Works a meaningful harm to gays and lesbians by denying their marriage." President Obama stated in his inaugural address, " Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are like everyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well." The justices will hear oral arguments in the proposition 8 case on March 26, and ruling will be determined by the last week of June.