The San Francisco City Attorney's office added seven couples in an amended petition to its lawsuit filed with the state Supreme Court immediately after the passage of Proposition 8, but none are black or Hispanic, leaving a void as LGBTs of color seek to be visible.

The lawsuit claims that Prop 8 is a constitutional revision, rather than merely an amendment, and should have to go through the state Legislature for approval.

The couples who were added to the case December 10, which also now includes 15 local governments around the state, appear to lack racial or ethnic diversity. At least one couple is Asian American, but none are black and Latino.

This is troubling to some, because one of the chief criticisms of the No on 8 campaign was that it was too white, and that there was not enough outreach to communities of color.

Out lesbian Andrea Shorter is African American and is campaign director for And Marriage for All, a group that has been working for months to reach out to the black community on marriage equality.

"We have to remain very supportive of all the couples that have stepped forward as litigants, and as we know that is a decision that takes great consideration on their part, but I would certainly have expected that in all of the state of California there would have been at least one African American couple to have been found and that would have been willing to serve as litigants in this very important case," Shorter said.

Amy Margolin, a partner at Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk and Rabkin, the firm representing the couples pro bono, said at least one couple is Asian American. The couples were added as private parties, according to a news release from City Attorney Dennis Herrera.

"Our couples come from all walks of life with a variety of different backgrounds," Margolin said.

Margolin noted the couples include parents and military veterans.

All were married in California after the state Supreme Court ruled in May that same-sex marriage was legal. They were added to the case because one of the issues the court will take up is Prop 8's effect on the marriages of lawfully wedded same-sex couples should the validity of the measure be upheld.

After Prop 8 passed last month, same-sex marriages in the state were halted.

Margolin wrote in an e-mail that when the firm decided to get involved in the case, it wanted to try to assemble married couples who were diverse in a variety of ways: "people with different life experiences, people who are racially and ethnically diverse, people from different backgrounds, areas of the state, and different walks of life."

"It was important because we want the court to have the benefit of a variety of perspectives as it takes up the question of Proposition 8's effect on existing marriages," wrote Margolin.

However, as important as diversity was, she continued, "Our primary objective in preparing for this litigation was, and remains, to present the strongest possible legal arguments for the court so that we can successfully defend and uphold the marriage of every married gay person in this state. Including the thousands of people we don't represent."

Helen Zia and Lia Shigemura, who are Asian American, are one of the couples involved in the case. The women were married by Herrera this summer.

"It would have been significant to show a broad range of queer folk in every community," Zia said.

However, Zia, who said she didn't know the firm's strategy for recruiting couples, added, "I also think the amount of time they had to do this was quite short" and said she imagined "they tried the best they could to get a broad sweep of our communities and show that we are everywhere."

Zia and Shigemura have been in a committed relationship since 1992 and own a home in Oakland. They were first married in 2004, after Mayor Gavin Newsom started allowing same-sex couples in San Francisco to be married.

The state Supreme Court eventually voided the 2004 marriages. But the consolidated marriage case that arose out of the weddings wound its way through the courts and on May 15, the high court ruled that same-sex couples' right to marry could not be denied.

Asked about the lack of black couples in the current case, Jewelle Gomez, who's African American and, along with her partner Diane Sabin, was a plaintiff in the 2004 consolidated marriage case, said, "It's really hard to get people who want to put their personal lives out in the press like that. I'm sure, as happened with the earlier case, couples will be added as it goes along."

Bobbie Wilson, an out lesbian who is African American, said that before Prop 8 passed, she worked "to reach out to those who believed that there was no room for them at the table."

Wilson, who worked on the city's initial lawsuit and is the director of litigation at Howard Rice, isn't involved in the current Supreme Court case. She said she's not surprised there aren't any black couples among those most recently added. She said although people of color were included in the original marriage cases, which she helped fight, "the face of the fight has for the most part been white."

Gloria Nieto, who's helping to get Marriage Equality Silicon Valley started, said it troubles her that no Latino couples appear to be included in the most recent additions.

"Everybody keeps saying we want to change our mistakes, but when opportunities arise, it seems like there's limited visibility about who's there and checking to have actions meet words," she said.

Ed Swanson, who is white and who along with his spouse Paul Herman is a party in the current Supreme Court case, said they were contacted by Howard Rice attorneys who were looking for couples that had been together a long time, couples that had children, and who had been married after the court's May 15 ruling.

When asked about the lack of racial and ethnic diversity among couples, Swanson said, "talk to the attorneys who handle this."

He also said he's optimistic about the case.

"The argument ... cities and counties are making is right," Swanson said. "It shouldn't be that people's fundamental rights can be put up for majority vote every two years."

Swanson has been in a committed relationship with Herman for 18 years. The couple, who live in San Francisco, have twin 5-year-old daughters. Swanson and Herman were married the first time in 2004, and then married again in October.

Other couples in the suit filed by San Francisco and other are Zoe Dunning and Pam Grey of Alameda; Marian Martino and Joanna Cusenza, Modesto; Bradley Akin and Paul Hill, San Francisco; Emily Griffen and Sage Andersen, Oakland; and Suwanna Kerdkaew and Tina M. Yun, San Francisco.

In November, when it became clear that Prop 8 would pass, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and several other groups also filed a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court over the constitutionality of Prop 8. The NCLR suit appears to include at least one Asian and one Latino. NCLR has not made the couples available for comment.