Marriage equality advocates tell Supreme Court same-sex marriage ban is ‘badge of inferiority’

Gay and lesbian couples who are challenging California’s ban on same-sex marriage said Thursday that the Constitution prohibits discrimination against them in the nation’s largest state or anywhere else in America.

Prohibitions on gay marriage are enshrined in 30 state constitutions and in statutes in roughly 10 other states. “This badge of inferiority, separateness, and inequality must be extinguished,” the two couples said in their legal brief filed with the Supreme Court.