A federal court just dismissed a gay couple's legal challenge to California's Proposition 8 ('Prop 8'), but only as it applies to the State of California, holding that the couple lacked standing (i.e., the legal ability to sue) to sue the State since they were already married.

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California held that Christopher Hammer and Arthur Smelt's 2008 same-sex marriage remained valid.  The couple was married in California before Prop. 8 passed, but when it was still legally permissble for their marriage to be performed.

When the Olson-Boies Prop 8 lawsuit first dropped, many gay rights groups opposed the suit as premature.  Now, a few of those groups have changed their tune and are seeking to intervene in the case.

After the frosty reception they gave the lawsuit initially, however, their request to join the lawsuit has met with an equally icy response from the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the group funding the litigation on behalf of the plaintiffs.

Just to refresh your memory, the lawsuit is an equal protection and due process challenge to Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative that amended the state's constitution to prohibit same-sex marriages.  The attorneys hired by the two couples challenging the amendment are the same two who argued on different sides of the Bush v. Gore debacle. 

Do you have a federal marriage license? You don't have to be a lawyer to know the answer.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley sued the federal government today to remind Congress that the Defense of Marriage Act ('DOMA') is an unconstitutional attempt to interefere with the state's authority to define marriage as it chooses.

In a unanimous decision, the Iowa Supreme Court held today that an Iowa statute restricting marriage to a male and a female violated the equal protection clause in the state's constitution.  The court ordered the restriction removed from the statute, and directed the state to interpret and apply the remaining provisions in a way that will afford "gay and lesbian people full access to the institution of civil marriage." 

This decision marks the first time that a court in a Midwestern state has allowed same-sex marriage, and that is sure to affect the broader debate that has been occurring on the coasts for some time.  Legislatures in New England have taken up statutes authorizing gay marriage recently, and the California Supreme Court heard arguments a short while ago in a challenge to Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that passed in November and changed the California constitution to ban gay marriage.