Calif. Gay Marriage Ban Ruling Expected Shortly

Lynn Holton, a spokeswoman for the California Supreme Court, said she expects the court to rule as early as this week on a lawsuit that seeks to invalidate Proposition 8 – the recently-passed constitutional amendment that yanks back the right of gays and lesbians to marry in California.

Pro-gay rights groups filed the motion on Wednesday, the day after the election, arguing that Prop 8 is invalid because it alters the constitution's “core commitment to equality for everyone by eliminating a fundamental right from just one group, lesbian and gay Californians.”

To make such a radial change to the constitution would require the approval of the legislature first, the pro-gay rights groups say.

More than one-third of California's lawmakers – including Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, Senate President pro Tem Don Perata, and incoming Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg – agree that Prop 8 used an improper vehicle, the ballot box, to amend the constitution to ban gay marriage, reports 'The Associated Press'.

In a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the lawsuit, forty-four members of the California Legislature said they believed the gay marriage ban should be reversed.

And over the weekend, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger came out swinging in favor of gay activists who have been protesting the gay marriage ban in the streets of California since Wednesday.

“It's unfortunate, obviously, but it's not the end,” Schwarzenegger said in a CNN interview. “I think that we will again maybe undo that, if the court is willing to do that, and then move forward from there and again lead in that area.”

Using his own weight lifting experience, the governor said: “I learned that you should never, ever give up ... They should never give up. They should be on it and on it until they get it done.”

Gay marriage foes have called the lawsuit “frivolous” and “an insult to voters.”