Gay marriage opponents file legal request to delay unions until November election

Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, May 23, 2008

San Francisco -- Groups that fought San Francisco's lawsuit seeking marriage for same-sex couples have asked the California Supreme Court to delay its decision to allow the marriages.

The organizations, including the Proposition 22 Legal Defense Fund and the Alliance Defense Fund, filed a request with the court Thursday afternoon seeking the delay until after the November election. That's when the state's voters will likely decide a proposed constitutional amendment to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples.

"Permitting this decision to take effect immediately - in the light of the realistic possibility that the people of California might amend their constitution to reaffirm marriage as the union of one man and one woman - risks legal havoc and uncertainty of immeasurable magnitude," the filing states. the rest