State Class Action Lawsuit Filed in California Challenging New Constitutional Amendment...

State Class Action Lawsuit Filed in California Challenging New Constitutional
Amendment Limiting Marriage to Heterosexuals

SAN FRANCISCO, June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- A class action lawsuit Burns v. State
of California Case No. CGC-08-481908 was filed on behalf of unmarried gays and
lesbians in San Francisco Superior Court today, Friday June 26, 2009, one day
before San Francisco's gay pride festival. This will be the first case in
California's State Court challenging California's new Constitutional amendment
limiting marriage to heterosexual couples. The Plaintiffs are represented by
attorney Waukeen McCoy who successfully argued In Re Marriage Cases in 2008,
which briefly allowed homosexuals the right to marry in California.

Last year, the California Supreme Court decided that California's statutory
law denying same-sex couples the right to marry violated the privacy, due
process, and equal protection provisions of the California State Constitution
as it then read. Shortly after the decision, California's voters, by
initiative, changed the text of the California Constitution by adding a new
Section 7.5 to Article I. The new section reads "only marriage between a man
and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

This lawsuit claims that section 7.5 of Article I violates the equal
protection clause of the State Constitution. McCoy said, "we chose to bring
this lawsuit in State Court rather than in Federal Court because sexual
orientation is a protected class under California State Law and it is not
recognized in Federal Law."

SOURCE Law Offices of Waukeen Q. McCoy

Law Offices of Waukeen McCoy, +1-415-675-7705