Judge: How Does Gay Marriage Affect Conventional Unions?

A federal judge in California refused to dismiss a lawsuit challenging a gay rights ban as discriminatory under the U.S. Constitution.

Charles Cooper, a lawyer for a group of California voters who sponsored a proposal to ban same-sex marriage called Proposition 8, asked the judge to throw out the case or render a decision making it more difficult for marriage rights to be secured by gay couples, the Associated Press reports.

U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker declined the lawyer's motion to dismiss the case and asked the attorney to explain how allowing same-sex civil unions threatens conventional marriages. The gay marriage opponents initially claimed that gay marriage obstructs the state's goal of fostering "naturally procreative relationships."

According to the news provider, Cooper was forced to admit that he could not answer the judge's question. He later clarified his position saying, "The people of California are entitled to step back and let the [same-sex marriage] experiment unfold in Massachusetts to see whether our concerns about the health of marital unions have been confirmed or assuaged."

The lawsuit was filed by two unmarried same-sex couples from San Francisco.

A same-sex marriage bill introduced by the California senate in 2005, though ultimately defeated, was the first time gay marriage legislature had voluntarily been introduced in America without a court order measure.