Kentucky Marriage Ban Struck Down

It happened yesterday, Freedom to Marry reports:

U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II ruled in favor of the freedom to marry, striking down a constitutional amendment in the state that restricts marriage to different-sex couples. The ruling is stayed pending further action from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. . . .

The ruling reads:

Sometimes, by upholding equal rights for a few, courts necessarily must require others to forebear some prior conduct or restrain some personal instinct. Here, that would not seem to be the case. Assuring equal protection for same-sex couples does not diminish the freedom of others to any degree. Thus, same-sex couples’ right to marry seems to be a uniquely “free" constitutional right. Hopefully, even those opposed to or uncertain about same-sex marriage will see it that way in the future.

In the ruling, Judge Heyburn dismantles the arguments that the defendants asserted in their briefs, most prominently the argument that allowing same-sex couples to marry in Kentucky will lower the birth rates in the state. Judge Heyburn wrote:

Perhaps recognizing that procreation-based arguments have not succeeded in any court post-Windsor, Defendant adds a disingenuous twist to the argument: Traditional marriages contribute to a stable birth rate which, in turn, ensures the state’s long-term economic stability.

These arguments are not those of serious people. Excluding same-sex couples from marriage does not change the number of heterosexual couples who choose to get married, the number who choose to have children, or the number of children they have.

Full text of the ruling here.


Also yesterday, in response to an emergency motion filed by Lambda Legal, the 7th Circuit partially lifted the stay of its ruling on Indiana marriages, permitting one lesbian couple to marry; one spouse is terminally ill, but the Indiana Attorney General opposed the motion anyway.


And just for fun, Slate has come up with a create-your-own Gay Marriage Ruling generator.