Calif. lawmakers challenge Prop 8

SACRAMENTO, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Forty-three California lawmakers have filed a brief urging the state Supreme Court to void a proposition that strips same-sex couples of the right to marry.

All of the members of the California Senate and Assembly who signed on to the brief are Democrats. The signatories include Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, as well as Perata's incoming successor, Darrell Steinberg, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The friend of the court brief was filed less than one week after California voters approved Proposition 8, which defines marriage in the state as between a man and a woman.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has in the past said he does not favor same-sex marriage, told CNN Sunday opponents of Proposition 8 should keep fighting it.

The legal brief filed with the state Supreme Court Monday argues that California's citizens rely on the Legislature and the courts "to safeguard against unlawful discrimination by temporary, and often short-lived, majorities."

"Our state's few deviations from this duty have proven, with the perspective of historical distance, to be the most abhorrent chapters in our state's history," the brief said.

Frank Schubert, the manager of the campaign in favor of Proposition 8, said the legal action was "a Hail Mary, no question about it."