Contact: Public Relations Department, Liberty Counsel, 800-671-1776

SAN FRANCISCO, May 16 /Christian Newswire/ -- Liberty Counsel represents the Campaign for California Families (CCF) in defense of California's marriage laws that were ruled unconstitutional by the California Supreme Court yesterday. Having been involved in defending the marriage laws from the beginning of the case in 2004, Liberty Counsel intends to file a motion on behalf of CCF, asking the court to stay its opinion pending the outcome of a vote in November on a state constitutional amendment that could preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman and overturn the Court's opinion.

The Court's ruling yesterday was in direct opposition to Proposition 22, an initiative to preserve marriage as a union of one man and one woman that was passed in 2000 by more than 61% of California’s voters. The 2000 initiative was not a constitutional amendment. Rather, the people passed a "super statute" that is higher than legislative statutes but lower than the constitution. Now the voters of California are moving forward with an initiative to amend the state constitution, and, if successful, the ballot measure will overrule the California Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage opinion.

Californians have been collecting signatures to protect marriage by amending the state constitution. More than one million signatures have been collected for the California Marriage Protection Act, which will protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The amendment states: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

If passed, the amendment will overturn the Court's order and stop same-sex "marriages" from being recognized in California. The signatures are being certified and voters will soon know whether a sufficient number (over 700,000) are valid so that the Act will appear on the November 2008 ballot.

A stay of the Court's order is needed so that California does not create confusion by recognizing same-sex "marriage" for five months and then suddenly stopping after the amendment passes and the Court loses jurisdiction over the issue. Yesterday's California Supreme Court opinion declaring a right to same-sex "marriage" does not become a final order for another 30 days.

Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, has argued the California marriage case at every stage of the litigation.

Staver commented: "The California Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of same-sex marriage will unite the people of California in their efforts to protect traditional marriage. The ruling will add fuel to the fire that will propel the state marriage amendment forward. The people of California will override the opinion of the four justices who found same-sex marriage rights brewing in their constitutional soup. It is outrageous that only four people think they have the power to rewrite the historical definition of marriage. Californians will not accept the Court’s decision. The people will have the last word."