CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal judge on Monday ordered Ohio
authorities to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples performed in
other states, the latest court victory for gay rights supporters.
Judge
Timothy Black ruled that refusing to recognize gay marriage is a
violation of constitutional rights and "unenforceable in all
circumstances."
"The record before this court … is staggeringly
devoid of any legitimate justification for the state’s ongoing arbitrary
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation," Black wrote.
The order does not force Ohio to allow gay marriages to be performed in the state.
The
state plans to appeal Black’s ruling, arguing that Ohio has a sovereign
right to ban gay marriage, which voters did overwhelmingly in 2004.
Black
delayed deciding whether to issue a stay of his ruling pending the
state’s appeal in the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
until after attorneys on both sides present arguments on the issue by
Tuesday.
However, Black said he is inclined to stay his ruling
pending appeal, except for a portion that applies to the four gay
couples who filed the February lawsuit that led to the court case. That
would mean the state would immediately have to recognize their marriages
and list both spouses as parents on their children’s birth
certificates.
If Black declines to stay his broader ruling, that
would allow gay couples in Ohio to obtain the same benefits as any other
married couple in the state, including property rights and the right to
make some medical decisions for their partner.
Ohio Attorney
General Mike DeWine told The Associated Press last week that he believes
marriage is between a man and woman, and that Ohio voters decided the
same in 2004 when they passed the statewide gay marriage ban.
"My
job as attorney general is to defend statutes and defend Ohio’s
constitutional provisions," he said Wednesday. "This was voted on by
voters so my job is to do that."
DeWine declined to speculate what the outcome of the state’s appeal will be or the future of gay marriage
rights as a whole.
"Every
state is having a lively debate over this and I think that’s a proper
thing to do," he said. "I think it’s pretty obvious that all these
issues are going to be resolved by the 6th Circuit and some cases are
going to get to the Supreme Court. They’re going to have a decision in
the United States Supreme Court and we’re all going to have to accept
that."
Attorneys representing the four same-sex couples who filed
the lawsuit that triggered Black’s ruling argued that it amounts to
state-approved discrimination and likened it to when interracial
marriage was illegal in the United States.
Gay marriage is legal
in 17 states and Washington, D.C. Federal judges recently have struck
down gay marriage bans in Michigan, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma and Virginia,
though stays have been issued pending appeals.
Similar to Ohio’s
ruling, judges in Kentucky and Tennessee have ordered state officials to
recognize out-of-state gay marriages. The Kentucky decision has been
stayed pending appeal, while Tennessee’s ruling applies to only three
couples.
Al Gerhardstein, the Cincinnati civil rights attorney who
has filed three gay marriage lawsuits in Ohio since June, said several
gay couples who want to win the right to marry in Ohio have contacted
him. He’s considering filing a new lawsuit on their behalf aimed at
striking down Ohio’s gay marriage ban entirely.
"The ultimate goal is full marriage equality," Gerhardstein said.
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