Lawyer Who Defended Prop 8 Now Planning Daughter's Lesbian Wedding

Lawyer Who Defended Prop 8 Now Planning Daughter's Lesbian Wedding

The lawyer who defended California’s Proposition 8, the 2008 referendum defining marriage as being between a man and a woman, is now planning his daughter’s lesbian wedding, the Associated Press’s Julie Pace reports.

“My daughter Ashley’s path in life has led her to happiness with a lovely young woman named Casey, and our family and Casey’s family are looking forward to celebrating their marriage in just a few weeks,” Charles Cooper told the AP. The wedding will take place in Massachusetts, one of 17 states (including D.C.) where gay marriage is legal. “My views evolve on issues of this kind the same way as other people’s do,” Cooper reportedly said.

According to a forthcoming book by Jo Becker, Forcing the Spring: Inside the Fight for Marriage Equality, Cooper learned of his daughter’s sexuality as the fight to defend Proposition 8 was still before the courts.

Proposition 8 passed with the overwhelming support of California voters in November 2008 after a ruling by the California Supreme Court earlier that year that briefly legalized same-sex marriage in the state. Attorney General Jerry Brown refused to defend Prop 8 in federal court, where it was struck down as unconstitutional, and in 2013 the Supreme Court held that defenders of Prop 8 lacked standing to sue, letting the measure fall.

Photo: Paul Sakuma/AP

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