Kenneth Starr and Shannon Minter, lead attorneys in the California Supreme Court case that will decide the fate of same-sex marriage in the state, are as different as the competing sides they represent.

Starr, dean of Pepperdine University School of Law, is best known for leading the inquiry into President Bill Clinton’s affair with a White House intern.

Since then, the former federal judge and U.S. solicitor general has dedicated himself to conservative causes, including writing briefs for the Mormon church in a previous gay marriage case in California.

Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco, is a transsexual who spent his first 35 years as a female. He was a lead counsel in the state Supreme Court case decided last May that allowed same-sex couples to marry, a ruling that was reversed in November when voters approved Proposition 8.

Starr and Minter will square off Thursday in the most closely watched California Supreme Court hearing in a generation. They’re set to deliver oral arguments in three suits in which supporters of gay marriage contend that Proposition 8, which limits marriage to a man and a woman, is unconstitutional.

Minter, 48, representing gay rights groups, will be the first attorney to address the court in San Francisco. Starr, 62, will deliver the final arguments on behalf of the Yes on 8 campaign.

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There is distinct frustration in the voices of Iowa social conservatives as they talk about the possibility of the Iowa Supreme Court striking down the state’s 1998 Defense of Marriage Act and allowing same-sex couples to wed.

On Tuesday morning, the court heard oral arguments in the case of Varnum v. Brien. The case, filed initially by six same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses by Timothy J. Brien, the Polk County Recorder, was given summary judgment in Iowa District Court in August 2007. Although the lower court’s decision was placed on hold pending the appeal to the high state court, one same-sex couple was able to quickly maneuver through the marriage process. The fate and validity of that marriage now hinges on the ruling from this appeal.

 See Social conservatives worry about ‘activist’ justices in gay …
Iowa Independent – Des Moines,IA,USA