Gays get Pennsylvania go-ahead

U.S. judge overturns state’s 1996 ban on same-sex marriage

Ashley Wilson (left) and Lindsay Vandermay, both 29, react after getting their marriage license at the Philadelphia Marriage Bureau in City Hall on Tuesday in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania’s ban on gay marriage was overturned by a federal judge Tuesday.
Ashley Wilson (left) and Lindsay Vandermay, both 29, react after getting their marriage license at the Philadelphia Marriage Bureau in City Hall on Tuesday in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania’s ban on gay marriage was overturned by a federal judge Tuesday.

PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania’s ban on gay marriage was overturned by a federal judge Tuesday, sending couples racing to pick up licenses.

U.S. District Judge John Jones III called the plaintiffs — a widow, 11 couples and one couple’s teenage daughters — courageous for challenging the constitutionality of the ban passed by lawmakers in 1996.

“We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them into the ash heap of history,” Jones wrote.

Jones declined to put his ruling on hold for a possible appeal by Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, so the order went into immediate effect. The governor, who opposes gay marriage, did not issue a statement or indicate whether he would appeal. However, his state party chairman complained that an “activist” judge had usurped the power of the Legislature.

County offices in Philadelphia stayed open late to handle marriage applications, while officials in Pittsburgh were closed for election day but accepted the applications online.

After they receive licenses, couples must wait three days before getting married.

Joe Parisi told his partner to “jet out of work” on Tuesday and get to Philadelphia City Hall.

“We didn’t want to take the chance of having this be challenged, and missing out on our opportunity,” said Parisi, 30, of Philadelphia, who plans to marry 28-yearold Steven Seminelli. They were among the first to get a license Tuesday afternoon, just hours after Jones’ ruling.

Jones also ordered Pennsylvania to recognize same sex marriages performed elsewhere.

“It’s everything we had hoped for,” said Witold “Vic” Walczak, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which pursued the case. “There’s nothing that the government can do that’s more intrusive than standing in the way of two people who love each other and want to get married.”

The ACLU had argued that the bans deprive same sex couples and their families of the legal protections, tax benefits and social status afforded to married couples.

Corbett’s office was left to defend the law after Attorney General Kathleen Kane, a Democrat, refused to do so.

“We’re currently reviewing all the legal issues presented in the opinion,” said Joshua Maus, a spokesman for Corbett’s legal office.

The Pennsylvania lawsuit, filed July 9, was the first known challenge to the state ban. At least five later test cases emerged, including one over a suburban county’s decision last year to issue 174 marriage licenses to same-sex couples, before a court order to stop doing so. Officials in Montgomery County were trying Tuesday to have that order lifted.

Jones, a Republican and an appointee of former President George W. Bush, was previously known for a 2005 decision in which he barred a Pennsylvania school district from teaching “intelligent design” in biology class, saying it was “a mere re-labeling of creationism.”

State marriage bans have been falling around the country since the U.S. Supreme Court last year struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

In Idaho, U.S. District Magistrate Judge Candy Dale overturned the state’s gay-marriage ban last week, saying it unconstitutionally denies gay residents their fundamental right to marry. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday granted a request for a stay from Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden.

The decision means same sex couples can’t get married or have their marriages recognized until the 9th Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether to let the ruling stand.

Oregon began recognizing same-sex marriage Monday, when jubilant couples began applying for marriage licenses immediately after U.S. District Judge Michael McShane issued a ruling that invalidated that state’s voter-approved same-sex marriage ban.

Also Monday, a federal judge in Utah ordered state officials to recognize more than 1,000 gay marriages that took place in the state over a two-week period before the U.S. Supreme Court halted same-sex weddings with an emergency stay.

Information for this article was contributed by Kathy Matheson, JoAnn Loviglio, Marc Levy and staff members of The Associated Press.

Upcoming Events