SAN FRANCISCO - The city of San Francisco and 22 same-sex couples are asking the California Supreme Court to overturn the state's gay marriage ban.

The plaintiffs filed briefs Monday arguing that the marriage law imposes second-class status on gay men and lesbians, The San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday.

"The marriage exclusion tells lesbians and gay men that they are less worthy than child abusers, or sex offenders, or convicts in prison for murder," lawyers for City Attorney Dennis Herrera wrote in a legal brief. "Because after all, those people do have the right to get married."

Lawyers for 15 same-sex couples said in a separate brief that the key question in the case is "whether the California Constitution permits the majority to treat those in the minority in a way the majority would never accept for itself, simply because it wants to and has done so for a long time."

California Attorney General Jerry Brown has until June 2 to respond to the briefs and defend the state law. Two groups opposing same-sex marriage, Campaign for California Families and Liberty Counsel, have signaled they will also file briefs in the case.

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