Southland mayors and cities, including Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Long Beach, joined others around the country Friday in urging the United States Supreme Court to rule in favor of allowing same-sex couples to marry.
A team of city attorneys led by Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, who said that “being able to marry whom you love is a fundamental civil right,” filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, which announced in January that it will consider the question of gay marriage.
The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear four cases from the Sixth Circuit, which includes Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee, and was expected have a final ruling in June.
Feuer — the brief’s counsel of record — and attorneys for San Francisco, New York and Chicago argue that allowing the freedom to marry to same-sex couples benefits cities and marriage equality laws should be uniform across state lines.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Robert Garcia — Long Beach’s first openly gay mayor — were among the 226 individual mayors who signed onto the brief. Other mayors include San Diego Mayor Faulconer, West Hollywood Mayor John Duran and Laguna Beach Mayor Bob Whalen.
Among the Southland cities that joined the brief were Los Angeles, Long Beach, Malibu, West Hollywood and Santa Monica, part of a group of 39 cities around the country.
“Our country was founded on the principle that all American are to be treated equally,” Garcetti said. “Los Angeles is taking a stand on these cases to move us closer to fulfilling the promise of our nation.”
“I’m proud that the city of Long Beach has long supported equality for Americans,” Garcia said. “The right to marry is a fundamental human right, and I’m grateful to my colleagues around the country for taking this important stand before the Supreme Court.”
