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Feminist Groups Support Legal Challenge to Prop. 8

Three major feminist groups—the Feminist Majority Foundation, National Organization for Women, and California National Organization for Women—have submitted an amicus brief to the California Supreme Court in support of legal challenges to Proposition 8, the November ballot measure that overturned the right to same-sex marriage in the state.

If Proposition 8 goes into effect, the brief argues, it will jeopardize not just the rights of gay couples to marry, but fundamental constitutional rights for women including the right to decide whether or not to bear a child, the right of sexual privacy, and the right not to be discriminated against in employment. The brief states that it “would be a dangerous precedent that may lead to a downward spiraling slope leaving no fundamental right…safe from the whims of the voting majority.”

Amicus briefs have also been filed by a group of more than 50 labor unions and a coalition of progressive religious organizations. These briefs support the various lawsuits that have been filed against Proposition 8 since its passage. The California state Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments in the case as early as March.

Sources:

Dallas Voice 1/13/09; BeyondChron 1/14/09; Feminist Daily Newswire 11/20/08, 12/22/08

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