Group Seeks To Intervene In Gay Marriage Lawsuits
MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) — The original group that successfully pushed Florida's constitutional amendment banning gay marriage said Wednesday that it will intervene in two lawsuits filed by gay couples challenging the law.
Officials from the Florida Family Policy Council sad they will seek to preserve the constitutional amendment approved by around 62 percent of voters that defined marriage as between one man and one woman.
The amendment was heavily supported in the more conservative northern part of the state and less so in parts of central and South Florida.
The FFPC will try to intervene in a lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court that said the amendment violates the 14th Amendment's equal protection guarantees.
A coalition of black and Hispanic civil rights groups and pastors is also defending Florida's constitutional ban.
The second suit the FFPC plans to get involved with is in a Tallahassee federal court. In this case, gay couples in Florida are asking the federal court to force Florida to recognize gay marriages legally performed in other states.
No trial dates have been set in either case.
Recent rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal courts have favored the rights of gay couples over state amendments, but no universal order from the Supreme Court overturning all gay marriage bans has been made in a legal decision.
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