Defense of Marriage Act

Court papers were filed Tuesday asking the California Supreme Court to reject a bid to remove Prop. 8, the so-called Defense of Marriage initiative, from the state's November general election ballot.

Two weeks ago civil rights groups filed a petition with the court asking it to remove the controversial initiative from the ballot in light of the court's May decision to legalize gay marriage across the Golden State.

But according to Howard Mintz in Tuesday's Mercury News, attorneys for the Alliance Defense Fund and Protect Marriage filed a 46-page petition asking the court to leave Prop. 8 on the ballot.

Conservative commentator and former presidential candidate Gary Bauer opined Monday in Politico that California's Prop. 8, the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, might actually help conservative candidates and causes come November's general election.

The measure, which seeks to amend the California Constitution so that it recognizes marriages as being only between a man and woman, has not been very good chances of passage by Golden State pundits, especially following May's California Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex nuptials.

But Bauer thinks otherwise:

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama: Getty Images PhotoReversing a previous position where he said the issue of gay marriage should be left up to the individual states, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said over the weekend that he would oppose the California ballot proposition seeking a ban against same-sex nuptials.

In a letter read before the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club's Pride Breakfast in San Francisco on Sunday, Obama said he would oppose Prop. 8, the so-called Defense of Marriage Act that would amend the California Constitution to define marriage as being only between a man and a woman.