Tell Obama: Speak out on Prop 8 at the Supreme Court

President Obama has said same-sex marriage is fine by him, but the Supreme Court will consider a more fundamental issue than that: whether Prop 8, and possibly state bans on same-sex marriage nationwide, violate the guarantee of Equal Protection under the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court often asks the Administration for its views on cases, and the position of the Department of Justice carries significant legal weight -- so we need the President and the DOJ to weigh in. As attorney Ted Olson commented on December 7th, 2012, "...given the stand the president of the United States and the attorney general of the United States made with respect to marriage equality, we would certainly hope that they would participate...I think that, given the position that the government has taken in the DOMA cases and the reasoning that they have used in filing their brief would apply with great effect in our case, the Perry case, as well."

President Obama and the Department of Justice can fulfill this request by filing a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that a state ban on same-sex marriage violates the U.S. Constitution. With the Supreme Court hearing oral arguments in March 2013, and the civil rights, respect and dignity of potentially millions of same-sex couples on the line, we need the President to lead and speak out.