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VABANC joined a coalition of over
60 local, state, and national Asian American organizations to file a
legal brief in support of equal marriage rights for gay and lesbian
couples. The Califonria Supreme Court heard the consolidated
Marriage Cases on March 4, 2008.
The oral argument was covered in
the Northern California media by, among others, the
Daily Journal, a legal newspaper,
and the
Bay Area Reporter, a gay community
newspaper.
The organizations filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the
court”) brief in the matter currently
pending before the California Supreme Court. The California
Marriage Cases are historic lawsuits urging the California courts
to end the exclusion of loving and committed same-sex couples from
marriage. The same-sex couples and their supporters ask the Court to
hold that the state’s current law denying lesbian and gay persons the
freedom to marry violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equality.
The amicus brief filed today by the coalition of Asian American
organizations seeks to support basic fairness for same-sex couples and
their families, drawing from the Asian American community’s own past
struggle with marriage discrimination in the state of California.
The amicus brief was supported by
many of the nation’s largest and most prominent Asian American civil
rights advocates, lawyers associations, social service organizations,
and community groups. Supporting organizations represented
nearly every major urban area in the state with a significant Asian
American population, including San Francisco, the Silicon Valley, Los
Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego. Together these organizations
also reflect the broad diversity of the Asian American community,
including Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, South Asian, and
Southeast Asian organizations.
“By filing this brief, Asian
American organizations are joining together in an unprecedented show
of unity and support for equal marriage rights within the Asian
American community,” said
Karin Wang, Vice President-Programs at the Asian Pacific American
Legal Center. “Together, we want to send a strong message to the
California Supreme Court that Asian Americans support a just and fair
California for all members of our community.”
“Asian Americans have fought hard
to achieve marriage equality that was denied to us on the basis of
race,” stated Robert
Chang, Professor of Law at Loyola Law School (Los Angeles) and
currently visiting at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.
“We must be committed to ensuring that this history is not forgotten
and that marriage equality is not denied to lesbian and gay Asian
Americans or to the broader lesbian and gay community.”
The legal brief team, many of
whom donated their time and expertise to this project as volunteers or
“pro bono” lawyers, included (in alphabetical order):
Robert Chang, professor of law at Loyola
Law School (Los Angeles) and currently visiting at the University of
Denver Sturm College of Law; Kevin Fong, Esq., Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw
& Pittman LLP (PWSP); Alex Fukui, Esq., API Equality-LA, Alice Kwong
Ma Hayashi, Esq., PWSP; Victor Hwang, Esq., Asian Pacific Islander
Legal Outreach (APILO); Deanna Kitamura, Esq., API Equality-LA; Karin
Wang, Esq., Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC); Andy Wong,
API Equality/Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA); Brian Wong, Esq.,
PWSP; and Doreena Wong, Esq., API Equality-LA. Many others at APALC,
API Equality-LA, API Equality-SF, APILO, and PWSP were also involved
with the brief and outreach.
To download the brief and related
documents online, please go to any of the following websites: CAA ( www.caasf.org),
APALC (www.apalc.org)
or Lambda Legal (www.lambdalegal.org).
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