*NonOfficial* Ongoing states striking down same-sex marriage ban thread

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Fern

Elite Member
Sep 30, 2003
26,907
174
106
-snip-
Figured I would make a single thread for all the states.

Affected By SCOTUS choice to not hear appeals and thus allowing marriages to commence
-snip-
North Carolina

I don't believe that's quite correct about NC.

My understanding is that NC presently has a law banning SSM. The ACLU announced yesterday that they will bring suit to have the law overturned. I.e., as it now stands SSM is not allowed. However, since the NC AG has announced he will not object to the ACLU's suit it appears to only be a matter of time.
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Thread title has long bothered me. States are not striking down SSM bans, the federal courts/govt is.

Fern
 

cabri

Diamond Member
Nov 3, 2012
3,616
1
81
Fly in the ointment

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A federal court judge has rejected an attempt to end a ban on same-sex marriages in Puerto Rico, saying political order itself depends on traditional marriage and deriding the logic of courts that have overturned such bans. The five gay couples who filed the suit will appeal, their attorney said Wednesday.

But in a ruling issued late Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Juan Perez-Gimenez upheld the laws, stating people and legislators, not judges, should debate the issue.

"Because no right to same-gender marriage emanates from the Constitution, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico should not be compelled to recognize such unions," he wrote in the 21-page ruling. "Instead, Puerto Rico, acting through its legislature, remains free to shape its own marriage policy."

"We were obviously surprised by the decision," Lambda Legal attorney Omar Gonzalez-Pagan said by phone. "Close to 50 court decisions have disagreed with that assessment, including four circuit courts of appeals." He said they would file an appeal within days.

Puerto Rico is the only jurisdiction under the First Circuit Court of Appeals that bans same-sex marriages, Gonzalez-Pagan said.

Apparently the judge has a different opinion of the constitution and equal rights than 30+ others of his position.

So either the First Circuit slaps down the ruling of they will cause it to go to SCOTUS again.

I suspect that the First will overrule. To not do so will reaffirm screw up those states that under it that it is legal in.

The First Circuit includes the Districts of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico and Rhode Island.
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
88,245
55,794
136
I don't believe that's quite correct about NC.

My understanding is that NC presently has a law banning SSM. The ACLU announced yesterday that they will bring suit to have the law overturned. I.e., as it now stands SSM is not allowed. However, since the NC AG has announced he will not object to the ACLU's suit it appears to only be a matter of time.
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Thread title has long bothered me. States are not striking down SSM bans, the federal courts/govt is.

Fern

No, you can get same-sex married in North Carolina today if you want to.

NC had a ban, but it was struck down by the 4th circuit. Well, technically Virginia's ban was struck down by the 4th circuit but since 4th circuit precedent is binding on North Carolina a district judge recently struck down NC's ban as well as unconstitutional.
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
29,873
463
126
I don't believe that's quite correct about NC.

My understanding is that NC presently has a law banning SSM. The ACLU announced yesterday that they will bring suit to have the law overturned. I.e., as it now stands SSM is not allowed. However, since the NC AG has announced he will not object to the ACLU's suit it appears to only be a matter of time.
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Thread title has long bothered me. States are not striking down SSM bans, the federal courts/govt is.

Fern
I think that's a technicality. The law is still on the books, but no longer enforceable. Same sex marriages started on October 13th. Now the big push is excuse officials from having to perform gay marriages or issue gay marriage certificates if it is against your religion. This too will certainly fail as the exact same tactic was tried when interracial marriage became legal. Basically, if your religious beliefs prevent you from doing your job, then you need another job, whether you're a Christian Registrar or a Somalian Muslim cashier.

http://www.freedomtomarry.org/states/entry/c/north-carolina

On October 10, 2014, a federal judge in North Carolina agreed that the ruling in favor of the freedom to marry in the 4th Circuit applies to NC’s Amendment 1, which bans same-sex couples from marrying. Same-sex couples were immediately issued marriage licenses, and on Monday, October 13, same-sex couples statewide began marrying.

The ruling was in General Synod of the United Church of Christ v. Cooper, a federal legal challenge filed in April 2014 on behalf of same-sex couples and clergy members from North Carolina seeking the freedom to marry and the freedom to perform marriages for same-sex couples. On Monday, October 13, another federal judge ruled in two cases from the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of NC, Fisher-Borne v. Smith and Gerber and Berlin v. Cooper, also affirming the freedom to marry.

The irony here is that many of the people insisting that government has the right to prevent two consenting, competent adults from marrying also profess to be small government conservatives. How can a government be small if it holds an arbitrary veto over whom one can marry?
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,987
31,541
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Thread title has long bothered me. States are not striking down SSM bans, the federal courts/govt is.

Fern

Who gives a tit? The point is that it is being done, and no individual that values personal liberty would think this is a bad thing. Any state that chooses to infringe on such personal liberties should be brought in line and by any means necessary, quite frankly.
 

sportage

Lifer
Feb 1, 2008
11,492
3,163
136
Thread title has long bothered me. States are not striking down SSM bans, the federal courts/govt is.

Some things can be up to the states.
Like marriage age. Drinking age. And, well, thats about it.
But when a couple of any sex marries in one state, then not married in another, that is totally unacceptable, and mind you, something heterosexuals do not have to deal with.

If a heterosexual couple marries at 17 in a state that allows marriage at 17, then that married 17 year old couple moves to a state where marriage age is 18, that 17 year old couple's marriage is still legal and recognized married at 17 once that license is in hand.
Once they have that marriage license, they are legal everywhere in every state, regardless.

Not the case with SS marriage.

And there you have not only the injustice, but the inequality of treatment of SS married compared with opposite sex married couples.

Not exactly rocket science, is it.
And exactly why states should be allowed to set rules when it comes to some things, like age, but never when it comes to ""recognition"" of marriage.
Tell me one heterosexual married couple that would put up with such inconsistency?

Imagine married at 17 in a 17 legal age state, and also with a child, then moving to another state and suddenly your child becomes a bastard?
No... opposite sex couples do not have to put up with such nonsense.
And they would not.
Laws would be changed over night to accommodate heterosexual couples.
Yet, SS married couples have this injustice to live with in their married life.
Married in one state, not in another.
And that is not right.
I dare anyone to deny the injustice here.

Ps. And exactly why some aspects of marriage is, and rightly so, should be up to the federal government. NOT the state.
.
.
 
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cabri

Diamond Member
Nov 3, 2012
3,616
1
81
Thread title has long bothered me. States are not striking down SSM bans, the federal courts/govt is.
Florida falls - Federal Judge this time
State was given a chance to appeal after the August ruling was stayed and apparently did not

35 states now plus DC

Same-sex couples in Florida could begin marrying shortly after the new year, after a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that a stay in the state’s gay-marriage ban case will be lifted at the end of the day Jan.5.

In a two-page ruling, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta turned down a request by Florida’s secretaries of health and management services and the clerk of the court in the Panhandle’s Washington County to extend the stay. A federal judge based in Tallahassee ruled in August that the state’s gay-marriage ban is unconstitutional, but stayed his decision until Jan.5 to give the state time to appeal

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/gay-south-florida/article4261997.html#storylink=cpy
 

Fern

Elite Member
Sep 30, 2003
26,907
174
106
No, you can get same-sex married in North Carolina today if you want to.

NC had a ban, but it was struck down by the 4th circuit. Well, technically Virginia's ban was struck down by the 4th circuit but since 4th circuit precedent is binding on North Carolina a district judge recently struck down NC's ban as well as unconstitutional.

There's a reason dates are noted on posts.

As of the date I posted my post was correct.

Fern
 

cabri

Diamond Member
Nov 3, 2012
3,616
1
81
SCOTUS needs to step in and shut this mess down once and for all.

You have the 6th (Cincinnati) going against the tide.

And the 8th (South Dakota) is being appealed to; that court is heavily Republican oriented 8/11 - hopefully ideology will not overrule common sense.

If the 8th sides with the 6th; then the SCOTUS needs to step up ASAP and clarify if this will be a per state or Federal issue.