Prop 8 Challenges Begin

The San Francisco City Attorney and legendary lawyer Gloria Allred have both announced separate lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8.

From the San Jose Mercury-News:

The San Francisco City Attorney's office says he plans to challenge the validity of a ballot measure that would change the state constitution to ban gay marriage. Spokesman Matt Dorsey says City Attorney Dennis Herrera will file the legal challenge in the California Supreme Court if the measure passes. With 95 percent of precincts reporting, Proposition 8 is leading with 52 percent of the vote. But there are still as many as 3 million ballots left to be counted. The first lesbian couple to be married in Los Angeles County after the Supreme Court threw out the gay marriage ban also plans to announce a lawsuit against Proposition 8. Attorney Gloria Allred says that lawsuit will argue that the measure is unconstitutional.

From the Contra Costa Times:

The first same-sex couple to wed in Los Angeles last summer struck the first blow from gay advocates against the new voter-approved ban on gay marriages Wednesday, announcing they were filing a lawsuit against the measure. Robin Tyler and Diane Olson of North Hills said Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred will file the new lawsuit containing a new and controversial legal argument as to why Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.

Tyler, 66, and Olson, 54, married last June 16 in a traditional Jewish ceremony on the steps of the Beverly Hills courthouse, becoming one of the first two same-sex couples to marry in California under the new state nuptial laws they helped overturn. The two couples were allowed to marry on the eve of when the state begins to issue marriage licenses to same-sex partners because of their unique roles in lawsuits from Los Angeles and San Francisco that led to last May's Supreme Court decision declaring the ban on gay marriage unconstitutional.