[Episcopal News Service, Los Angeles] The furor over California's controversial gay marriage ban escalated November 12 as sporadic protestors, dissonant religious voices, the Los Angeles County board of supervisors and even superstar Sir Elton John weighed in on opposite sides of the fray.
After hearing from more than a dozen speakers, including the Rev. Susan Russell, president of Integrity USA, an Episcopal gay rights activist group, the Los Angeles supervisors agreed to join a lawsuit challenging Proposition 8.
"Some of us may ask why the county supervisors would be involved and get so involved in this issue," Supervisor Gloria Molina said, citing the board's responsibility to supply marriage licenses, uphold the law and "balance the enforcement of Proposition 8 with recognizing the constitutional right of all our citizens." Molina added, "On a personal note, I am here to say that the passage of Prop. 8 saddened and angered me on various levels."
The lawsuit, filed by the City of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Clara County, seeks to overturn the initiative, approved 52% to 48% in the November 4 election, and which defines marriage as solely between a man and a woman.
"So much of the rhetoric that has fueled the fires of discrimination in this election was fueled by religious voices insisting that somehow they had the entitlement to write their theology into our constitution," Russell, an associate rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, told supervisors during their regular November 12 meeting.
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