A petition for Governor Bill Walker to stop the appeal to ban gay marriage has garnered over 1,100 signatures.
The petition begins by calling on “the chief executive and Attorney General of the State of Alaska to stop defending discrimination against LGBT Alaskans.”
In 1998 Alaska voters approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between one man and a woman. Last fall, a federal judge struck down that ban as unconstitutional.
In March Governor Walker’s pick for Attorney General Craig Richards said he’ll stand behind the Alaska’s Constitution’s definition of Marriage.
Richards: “My duty as attorney general is to defend the state constitution and the state constitution is clear. So barring a federal decision by the United States Supreme Court that makes clear that the federal constitution trumps the state constitution, it’s my duty to defend the state constitution.”
The petition ends by requesting “Please dismiss the appeal of Hamby v. Walker, withdraw Alaska’s joinder from the amicus brief opposing equal marriage, and stop taking state actions that discriminate against our LGBT brothers and sisters.”
