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Attorney General Pam Bondi is asking a lower court to send the gay marriage question directly to the state’s highest court. The move is an about face for the states chief legal officer, and the move is drawing criticism from the gay rights community.

Attorney General Pam Bondi hasn’t said publicly if she’s for or against gay marriage, but she’s been adamant about how gay rights cases should be handled. On August 18th, she was confident the case would be decided in Washington. “The US Supreme Court. They need to decided this case. They are going to decide this case, hopefully sooner than later. So, we’ll have finality.”

But after the nation’s highest court turned down appeals, Bondi has filed paper work with a Florida appellate court, saying gay marriage is a matter of great public importance. She wants the case to go directly to Florida’s Supreme Court.

Gay rights activists say the latest filing is just one more delaying tactic, trying to get the Attorney General past the November election. Her office declined comment, leaving a void for gay rights activists to fill. Jim Van Riper is the President of Equality Florida. He says “It’s really time for her to stop wasting taxpayer money, and let it go. It’s time to drop the appeals.”

Democrat George Sheldon has also been chiding Bondi for months to drop appeals…saying the writing is on the wall. “So, if you were Attorney General, what would you do?” we asked. His response:  “I would immediately stop, I would drop the appeals, I would ask the courts in Florida to lift the stays on the decisions for the courts that have already ruled, and, ah, move on.”

The appellate court is not obligated to bump the case up without a hearing and the State Supreme Court is not obligated to take the case without a lower court conflict.

4.8 million voters approved he Marriage Protection Amendment in 2008. It was placed on the ballot through an initiative petition.