Virginia gay marriage ban overturned

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A US federal judge has ruled that Virginia’s

ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, making it the first state

in the south to have its voter-approved prohibition overturned.

District Judge Arenda Wright Allen issued a stay of her order while

it is appealed, meaning gay couples in Virginia will still not be

able to marry until the case is ultimately resolved. Both sides believe

the case won’t be settled until the supreme court decides to hear it or

one like it.

Allen’s ruling makes Virginia the second state in the traditionally

conservative US south to issue a ruling recognising the legality of

gay marriages. A judge in Kentucky ruled on Wednesday that the state must recognize

same-sex marriages performed in other states. It did not rule on the

constitutionality of same-sex marriages inside the state. The

Virginia judge’s ruling follows similar decisions in Utah and

Oklahoma federal courts.

The Virginia attorney general’s office took the unusual step of not

defending the law because it believes the ban violates the equal

protection clause of the 14th Amendment. However it asked for the judge

to stay her order to avoid what happened in Utah after

a federal judge declared that state’s ban on gay marriages

unconstitutional: more than 1,000 gay and lesbian couples were married in the days afterwards but the US supreme court then granted an emergency

stay, leaving the

status of the married couples uncertain. Soon afterwards a federal judge declared

Oklahoma’s ban unconstitutional – that ruling is also on hold while it

is appealed.

In a movement that began with Massachusetts in 2004, 17 states and the

District of Columbia now allow gay marriage, most of them clustered in

the north-east.

The Virginia case centred on a gay Norfolk couple who were denied a

marriage licence by a court in July, shortly after the supreme court

struck down the federal Defence of Marriage Act. A couple who married in

California and are raising a teenage daughter later joined the

lawsuit, seeking to have their marriage recognized in Virginia. The

attorneys representing the plaintiffs are the same ones who successfully

challenged California’s voter-approved ban on gay marriages in court.

Nationwide there are more than a dozen states with federal lawsuits challenging state bans on same-sex marriage.