(Newser) – With the Proposition 8 trial entering its final stages in California, backers of the gay marriage ban are asking the judge to revoke all state recognition of the 18,000 gay couples who got married in the brief time it was legal. Doing so would honor “the expressed will of the people,” they argue in the court filing.

The conservatives aren’t asking the judge to annul the marriages, their lawyer tells the San Francisco Chronicle, only to rule that government agencies and businesses no longer have to recognize them. Today the judge will hear final arguments in the case, in which gay rights advocates are suing to overturn the ban as unconstitutional. A ruling is expected in weeks, followed by a probable appeal to the Supreme Court within 2 years.

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