BREAKING NEWS

Laguna Beach will join other California cities in a legal challenge to Prop. 8, a state Constitutional Amendment that bans the marriage of homosexual couples.

The City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to add its name to the litigation filed by the city and county San Francisco, in which the City of Los Angeles and Santa Clara County are participating.

“A lot of us were disappointed about Proposition 8,” said Councilwoman Toni Iseman, who sponsored the proposal to add Laguna’s name to the legal challenge.

Laguna Beach overwhelmingly voted against the proposition in the November election: 8,997 to 2,244.

However, the proposition passed.

“The election moved the United States out of apartheid, but we are still segregated on sex,” said Bruce Hopping.

Deborah Quan, who married her partner before Prop. 8 was passed, urged the council to support the challenge, which she said was on a fast track with the California Supreme Court.

“The [state] attorney general has announced that the court should move on this,” City Attorney Philip Kohn said.

Kohn said Laguna’s participation is a simple matter since an action had already been filed by San Francisco, the lead agency in the challenge.

“We won’t have to reinvent the wheel and there is no financial obligation.,” Kohn said.

Kohn communicated the city’s position Wednesday morning to the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office and requested that Laguna Beach be added as public entitiy challenging the validity of the recently adopted Prop. 8.