Dean John Eastman was quoted in an article in the Los Angeles Times entitled “Lawsuits in defense of gay marriage can backfire, activist groups warn,” which reported on a memo drafted by nine major gay rights groups asking couples not to sue the federal government or other states to have their California nuptials recognized, saying that legal action could harm the marriage equality movement. The memo “is a stark recognition of how their efforts have fared in the rest of the country any time the issue has been taken up in the ballot box,” Dean Eastman commented to the Times. “It is a tactical call that they are not quite ready yet in other states and not even in California to deal with the federal issue.” Read article …

Dean John Eastman was also quoted in an article in the San Francisco Chronicle entitled “Gay newlyweds advised not to sue,” where he agreed that lawsuits to enforce California marriage rights in other states would be a dubious strategy. “Particularly in any of the 38 states that have recently adopted traditional marriage initiatives, I think the odds are pretty long,” Dean Eastman said. He noted that even the threat of such suits is likely to be an issue in the campaign over the November ballot measure, and a proliferation of suits might lead a federal court to overturn the California ruling on the grounds that the state was imposing its policies on the rest of the country. Read article…