Supervisors direct counsel to join lawsuit filed by LA city, SF county to examine Prop. 8 legality.

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The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to file a lawsuit to uphold gay marriage as a civil right of
all California residents.

In a 3-0 vote, with Supervisors Michael Antonovich and Don Knabe
unable to attend the meeting, the Supervisors instructed County
Counsel to immediately join the
City of Los Angeles and County
of San Francisco in requesting that
the state refrain from enforcing Proposition 8, which eliminates the right of
same-sex couples to marry.

A spokesman for Supervisor Antonovich said that the
supervisor is not happy with the board’s action.

“Supervisor Antonovich is adamantly opposed to the County
Board of Supervisors joining the City of Los Angeles and County of San
Francisco in a lawsuit to overturn the will of the people who overwhelmingly
approved Prop 8 on Nov. 4,” said Tony Bell, a spokesman for Antonovich, who was
out of town attending an AQMD board meeting.  “Furthermore, a move like this would
disenfranchise millions of voters who participated in the electoral process and
who expect that this state and the county will support their will to protect
and defend the definition of marriage in the state constitution.”

Bell said that
the supervisor requested that the item be continued for one week so that all
members of the board could vote on it, but the request was denied.

The issue was voted upon by the electorate in 2000, when
Proposition 22, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman, was
approved by 61.4 percent of the voters and opposed by 38.6 percent. On May 15, 2008, the state Supreme Court
overturned Prop. 22, stating that marriage was a civil right and covered under
the equal protection clause of the state constitution. Thousands of jubilant gay
couples rushed to the altar to solidify their unions.

Proposition 8, which proposed a change in the state
constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman, eliminating the
rights of same-sex couples to marry, was approved by the voters on November 4,
albeit by a smaller margin, 52.3 percent for to 47.7 percent against statewide.
In Los Angeles County,
the margin was much closer – 50.3 percent for, 49.7 against.

Proposition 8 has proven to be the most controversial of
state measures considered by the voters in this year’s historic election,
prompting rallies and protests on busy street corners not just in Santa
Clarita, but all around the Southland, as well as Sacramento and San Francisco
before and after the election.