MIAMI, FL–Circuit Court Judge Sarah Zabel ruled that three anti-gay groups who oppose marriage equality for same-sex couples cannot intervene as parties in Pareto v. Ruvin, the lawsuit challenging Florida’s discriminatory marriage laws in the circuit court for Miami Dade County.

The groups include Florida Family Action, Inc. (FFAI), Florida Democratic League Inc. (FDL) and People United to Lead the Struggle for Equality, Inc. (PULSE)—groups that support the discriminatory marriage laws at issue in the case.

Denying their request to be parties in the case, Judge Zabel found that these groups did not have a concrete legal interest in the case because they “will not be directly and immediately affected if others enter into a same-sex marriage, or are prevented from entering into a same-sex marriage.”

The court also noted that the “validity of their own marriages will not be affected,” adding that if these groups could enter the case as parties simply because they have strong beliefs about the issues in the case, “so would anyone who has a strongly held belief regarding the constitutionality of the Amendment and statutes at issue in this suit.”

Follow