Lawsuit filed to block Georgia amendment banning same-sex marriage

As promised, gay rights supporters filed a lawsuit Tuesday over an amendment to the Georgia state constitution banning same-sex marriage that was approved by voters last week. They say the amendment should be thrown out because of misleading language on the ballot measure. Voters were asked only if they wanted to define marriage as a union of a man and a woman, not whether they wanted to ban civil unions, which the amendment effectively does. The measure passed by 3-1 ratio last Tuesday, winning with huge margins among almost every demographic. In the Fulton County lawsuit, the plaintiffs call the amendment "fatally flawed...because it contains multiple sections which deal with more than one subject matter." The plaintiffs include two Democratic state legislators and a University of Georgia law professor. The group of amendment opponents also tried unsuccessfully to block the vote on the ballot measure on the same grounds--that it was misleading. The state supreme court ultimately decided it could not intervene until after a vote was taken. The lawsuit names Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, as defendant. On Monday, at a caucus meeting for Republican members of the state house, members of the GOP vowed to fight the lawsuit. "We will take all actions necessary to defend the decision of the people and will not look kindly upon any tampering with our state constitution," said Rep. Glenn Richardson.