Virginia Attorney General Files Court Papers Supporting Gay Marriage

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring filed a court brief Friday in support of gay marriage, telling an appellate court that the state's ban is unconstitutional and that homosexuals have just as much right to marry as interracial heterosexual couples.

Herring made the argument in a brief filed Friday in the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, according to WTOP. Arguments are set for May 13.

A federal judge struck down the ban in February citing the 1967 Supreme Court case that invalidated state laws prohibiting interracial marriage. The judge stayed the order pending an appeal.

Herring says the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause protects the fundamental right to marry and trumps the states' authority to decide the issue.