Contact: Richard D. Ackerman, President, Pro-Family Law Center, 951-308-6454, 951-258-5456 cell

TEMECULA, Calif., Oct. 5 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Pro-Family Law Center and public interest firm of Lively, Ackerman & Cowles are hailing today's ruling by the First District California Court of Appeal on the issue of gay marriage.  In short, the Court concluded that gay marriage is an issue that should be left to the democratic process and not to courts and judges.

The two original lawsuits to challenge San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's unilateral decision to make gay marriage legal were brought by the Alliance Defense Fund, Campaign for California Families, Pete Knight, Proposition 22 Defense Fund, Liberty Counsel, and the Lively-Ackerman public interest law firm.

Richard D. Ackerman, one of the California attorneys who was among the first to sue Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, says, "This is a great day for California and the nation.  While so many courts have failed to respect the checks and balances system afforded by our Founders, California proved itself capable of reading the Constitution for what it actually means and was intended to be.  This ruling will do much to restore the faith of the public in our judiciary.  Much respect has been lost in the last several years because of errant judges wishing to make their own law."

Ackerman also states that, "California and the nation owe a great amount of gratitude to the Alliance Defense Fund, Liberty Counsel, Matt Staver, and Robert Tyler.  These were the organizations and attorneys that decided to single-handedly deal with the issue of gay marriage regardless of being called hateful, intolerant, and the like.  ADF and Liberty Counsel saw these battles through to the end."

According to PFLC, "The entire legal team always saw this as an issue about the democratic process.  California, nor any other state, should be controlled by radical activists, such as Mayor Newsom, who happen to be in political positions of power.  The People ought to be able to decide what is right and wrong for society when it comes to the fundamental institutions of family and marriage."