Save the date: Oral argument in AFER’s marriage case in Virginia, Bostic v. Schaefer (formerly Bostic v. Rainey) will begin Tuesday, May 13, 2014 at 9:30 AM ET.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit allotted thirty minutes of argument for both sides of the case with a shorter rebuttal time to follow from the Defendants-Appellants.

AFER’s incomparable legal team led by Ted Olson and David Boies are prepared to argue the District Court’s decision ruling unconstitutional all laws prohibiting gay and lesbian couples from marrying in the Commonwealth must be upheld.

Hours before Valentine’s Day on February 13, 2014, U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen released her decision in Bostic v. Rainey:

Plaintiffs honor, and yearn for, the sacred values and dignity that other individuals celebrate when they enter into marital vows in Virginia, and they ask to no longer be deprived of the opportunity to share these fundamental rights…The men and women, and the children too, whose voices join in noble harmony with Plaintiffs today, also ask for fairness, and fairness only. This, so far as it is in this Court’s power, they and all others shall have.

It was the first marriage equality ruling of its kind in the South and was  stayed pending appeal. AFER’s legal team will now defend the ruling before three judges of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The identity of the panel will not be disclosed until the morning of argument.

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