Gay Couples Still Wait to Plan Very Important Date

Opponents of Proposition 8, California's ban on same-sex marriage that was recently struck down by a federal judge, submitted motions on Friday in an effort to allow couples to wed beginning this week.
   
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled on Thursday that same-sex marriages in California could resume at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
   
Defenders of Proposition 8 appealed the ruling, asking for a long-term stay of marriages, until their challenge of Walker's Aug. 4
decision invalidating the measure can be heard by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Proposition 8 proponents asked the appeals court to grant an emergency stay of Walker's order before 5 p.m. Wednesday, in order "to avoid the confusion and irreparable injury that would flow from the creation of a class of purported same-sex marriages."

On Friday, attorneys for the plaintiffs in the case filed a motion asking the appeals court to deny that request.

"The Proponents' motion, while exceptionally lengthy, does not come close to showing they have a strong chance of winning on appeal, which is what they must demonstrate to get a stay," attorney Theodore Boutros said in a statement.

Boutros said the sponsors of Proposition 8 additionally "completely fail to show that they or anyone else will be irreparably harmed
-- or harmed at all -- by allowing people to get married while the appellate process proceeds."
   
Also on Friday, Attorney General Jerry Brown submitted his own opposition to the marriage stay, saying that the trial over which Walker presided "convincingly demonstrated" that Proposition 8 violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Brown argued that Proposition 8 proponents "thus cannot demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits in their appeal."

"The public interest weighs against (Proposition 8's) continued enforcement," Brown wrote.
 

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