Oregon couples began marrying immediately after yesterday’s court ruling. (Picture courtesy Oregon United for Marriage)
UPDATE: A Pennsylvania judge ruled the state’s marriage ban is unconstitutional. No word yet on when marriage begins or if the ruling will be stayed until it can be appealed. The attorney general said she would not defend the ban. The governor has not said if he would appeal.
“We are better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them onto the ash heap of history,” Judge John E. Jones III said in his ruling. Jones was appointed by President George W. Bush and was recommended to Bush by then-Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.
ORIGINAL POST: This week is heating up as an active marriage-equality week.
Monday’s decision in Oregon which legalized same-sex marriage was expected. Also expected was an Arkansas state Supreme Court stay that stopped marriage equality in that state after about 500 couples married.
A ruling is expected at 2 p.m. (1 p.m. Central Time) Tuesday in a marriage case in Pennsylvania. Should the judge strike down the state’s marriage law, as every judge who has heard a marriage case since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down DOMA last June, marriage could begin in Pennsylvania this week. Rallies are planned across the state this afternoon.
In Utah, Judge Dale Kimball ruled Monday the state must recognize the marriages of the 1,300 couples who married during a two-week period when it was legal in December. He said it was unfair to put those couples into limbo, affecting everything from adoption to taxes to benefits. The decision doesn’t take effect for 21 days to give the state time to appeal.
