Julian Bond, NAACP board chairman, has been an advocate for the LGBT community for many years. He was one of the first civil rights leaders to unequivocally link gay rights and the civil rights movement. The nation’s oldest civil rights organization is taking a stand in the name of racial justice in favor of same-sex marriages by filing a friend of the court brief challenging Proposition 8 in California.

"It is imperative that the Supreme Court of California recognize that by allowing Prop 8 to take effect, it is setting a dangerous precedent that allows a bare majority to strip minority groups of their fundamental rights. We are joining this challenge to ensure that the rights of all minority groups are being protected," said John Payton, LDF President and Director-Counsel. The California Supreme Court recognized marriage as a fundamental right. To take away that right a constitutional revision requiring a two-thirds vote by the state legislature – and not just a simple majority vote – would be needed in order to bar same-sex marriage. If Prop 8 is allowed to stand the fundamental rights of all minority groups will be placed in jeopardy.

NAACP LDF joins MALDEF, Asian American Pacific Legal Center, Equal Justice Society, and the California NAACP challenging this decision.