California Assembly Speaker John A. Perez, D-Los Angeles, filed an amicus curiae brief in support of overturning California’s Proposition 8, according to a press release.

The relevant case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, is scheduled to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in late March and concerns California’s voter-approved referendum defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

“Proposition 8 eliminated more than the equal right to marry,” Perez said in the statement. “Proposition 8 also eliminated the ability of those seeking equal marriage rights to pursue those rights through their elected representatives. That deprives a historically disadvantaged group — a group of which I am a member — of access to traditional representation in a representative democracy.”

Perez is among 22 legal scholars and numerous corporations, including Apple, Facebook and Intel, that have filed briefs in support of same-sex marriage.