The gay marriage case that Hollywood made will be heading to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on January 11th, and the City of San Francisco will be included as a party to the case, says U.S. District Judge Vaughan Walker. Three gay rights organizations--Lambda Legal, the ACLU, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights--were asking to be included as parties to the case on the side of the plaintiffs as well, but they were denied and will have to settle for filing friend-of-the-court briefs. Whether this will serve to un-clutter and speed up the proceedings remains to be seen.

The plaintiffs' lawyers--the hot shot team of Ted Olson and David Boies who argued either side of Bush v. Gore--and the Hollywood publicist who spearheaded the case and rustled up some funding from some rich Hollywood gays, have been arguing that they want to go it alone and that any interference from these groups, or the city of SF would be a hindrance. The gay groups, for their part, just don't want to see this thing botched for lack of experience in this area of the law, especially if the case reaches our not exactly liberal Supreme Court. In any event, it's sure to be some terrific courtroom theater, and will almost certainly be adapted for the screen.