Mayor Edwin M. Lee today issued the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari to hear the federal challenge to Proposition 8 in the Hollingsworth v. Perry case:

“Together, we have taken this fight for civil rights all the way to our nation’s highest court. And, we will continue the fight until all families are treated equally so gay and lesbian couples are allowed to marry and are accorded the same basic rights as all Americans.

I am optimistic that the Supreme Court will reaffirm, as the Ninth Circuit Court did, that California’s Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.

We remain as deeply committed today as we were nearly eight years ago when then Mayor Gavin Newsom jumpstarted one of the most important civil rights movements of our generation. I would like to thank City Attorney Dennis Herrera for his work on this important issue and bringing us to this point. I thank the legal team of Ted Olson and David Boies and the American Foundation for Equal Rights for defending equality in this legal pursuit.  

Same-sex marriage is legal, or will soon be, in nine states — Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, Washington — and the District of Columbia. I look forward to the day when California joins this well-respected list.”