For those that haven't seen it
A state judge threw out a Louisiana constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage on a technicality Tuesday, only 17 days after voters overwhelmingly approved the measure.
District Judge William Morvant ruled the amendment was flawed in the way it was drawn up by the state Legislature. Louisiana law requires state constitutional amendments to focus on a single issue. Besides banning same-sex marriage, this amendment would have also prohibited the state from recognizing civil unions for gay couples and same-sex marriages performed in other states.
The ruling sends a message to the people of Louisiana that "even minorities have basic rights," according to Evan Wolfson, the executive director of Freedom to Marry, an organization working to win marriage equality nationwide. Cheryl Jacques, president of the Human Rights Campaign, called it "an important ruling for fairness."
The measure passed Sept. 18 with approximately 78 percent of people voting in favor of it, thanks in part to an intense lobbying campaign by Christian conservatives.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, one of the groups that supported the amendment, vowed to appeal the judge's ruling.
"Once again, a judge has stripped from the voters the right to decide the fate of marriage in Louisiana," he said in a statement released Tuesday.
Wolfson countered, telling the PlanetOut Network the judge's action is "a reminder that ultimately this attack campaign being mounted by the right is deeply unconstitutional and un-American."
Prior to the election, civil rights groups that opposed the measure had sued to keep it off the ballot. At the time, the Louisiana courts declined to hear the challenge, but left open the possibility of hearing it after the amendment passed.
Earlier this year, Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to allow gays to marry, touching off a national backlash.
On Nov. 2, voters in 11 other states will decide the fate of similar constitutional amendments aimed at preventing same-sex couples from marrying.
Posted October 5, 2004