Georgia Supreme Court agrees to expedite gay marriage appeal

<p>Georgia's top court said Tuesday it would expedite its review of a ruling striking down the state's constitutional ban on gay marriage.</p><p>The Georgia Supreme Court said in a statement that it will hear arguments in the case on June 27, creating the possibility that the court could rule in time to avert a summertime special session of the state Legislature.</p><p>Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue has said that if the court fails to rule on the issue by Aug. 7 he will call the state's lawmakers back to the Capitol to push through another measure that can be placed before voters on the November election ballot. Seventy-six percent of voters in 2004 approved the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages.</p><p>The Superior Court judge's ruling earlier this month striking down the ban has ignited a political firestorm in the Democratic race for the governor.</p><p>Secretary of State Cathy Cox angered gay supporters when earlier this month she said she supported the constitutional ban and endorsed calls for a special session to address the issue if the courts failed to act. Over the weekend, however, she called plans for a possible special session "a cynical ploy" to get conservative voters to the polls.</p><p>"And if I thought there was a realistic way to stop it, I'd lay down on the train tracks," Cox told a radio call-in show Saturday.</p><p>Her comments Saturday were made to a liberal talk radio show "Air Loaf" on Air America in response to a caller who said he was upset with her position. A transcript of the exchange was provided to The Associated Press by the campaign of Cox's Democratic rival, Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor.</p><p>The Taylor camp on Tuesday accused Cox of tailoring her comments to her audience.</p><p>"This is not about gay marriage. This is about character," state Sen. Gloria Butler, D-Stone Mountain, said speaking on behalf of the Taylor campaign.</p><p>"Cathy Cox says one thing in Atlanta and says something different in south Georgia. First, she was against the gay marriage amendment. Then, she supported Sonny Perdue's call for a special session this year to pass the amendment again."</p><p>The Cox camp declined all comment on the matter Tuesday.</p><p>In the radio interview, Cox said a special session on the gay marriage issue seemed inevitable given the Republican lock on the statehouse and said she thought the discussion should be held "as quickly as possible."</p><p>"That doesn't mean that when they have a special session that we shouldn't all work toward the right outcome in a special session and make those arguments as they fit into the debate," Cox said.</p><p>It was unclear what she meant when she referred to the right outcome.</p><p>But Butler suggested that Cox was saying the amendment should be killed in a special session.</p><p>The metro Atlanta area is home to a large and politically active gay and lesbian community. They were believed to be lining up behind Cox until her recent comments. Some gays are now calling for a boycott of the July 18 Democratic primary, and a handful of Cox's gay supporters have asked for the return of campaign contributions.</p><p>Earlier this month, Georgia Superior Court Judge Constance Russell of Atlanta's Fulton County declared the state's voter-endorsed ban on gay marriage unconstitutional because the ballot measure asked voters to decide on two separate questions. The state immediately announced its intention to appeal.</p><p>The decision to put the appeal on the fast track was a close vote for the seven-member court. Justices Carol Hunstein and P. Harris Hines dissented and Justice Harold Melton, a former counsel to Perdue, did not participate in the deliberations. Melton was named in legal papers challenging the gay marriage law from his tenure in the Perdue administration.</p><p>The rush to decide the issue comes despite the fact that Georgia still has another law on the books barring same-sex marriage.</p>