Quick Fact: Oklahoma's Same Sex Marriage Ban Joins the "Unconstitutional" Ranks

On Tuesday, in a case that has languished in the courts for nine years, Judge Terence C. Kern of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma ruled that Oklahoma's state constitutional amendment barring same sex marriage is unconstitutional. 

In his ruling, Judge Kern said the ban is "an arbitrary, irrational exclusion of just one class of Oklahoma citizens from a governmental benefit."  The state had argued that the amendment was written in the interest of promoting heterosexual marriage and protecting the welfare of children. Judge Kern answered that the amendment was based on "moral disapproval" saying that the state had failed to prove opposite sex marriage or children would be harmed by lifting the ban.

In anticipation of the state's appeal to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, (the same court that is now hearing the Utah marriage equality case), Judge Kern stayed his decision, so there won't be a rush on same sex marriage in that state, at least for now. 

In just six short months, repercussions of the Supreme Court's June 2013 decision finding parts of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional have reached states all over the country.   Now that even uber-conservative states like Utah and Bible-belt states like Oklahoma are impacted, I can't help but be optimistic for the year ahead and for the time when "17" becomes "50."