On Wednesday, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett (R) announced that he will not challenge Federal Judge John E. Jones III's ruling that the state's same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutionl. While saying that his personal belief remains that marriage should be between a man and a woman, he called any appeal "extremely unlikely to succeed."
Governor Corbett's decision makes Pennsylvania the 19th state to legalize same-sex marriage. It follows Oregon which became the 18th such state on Monday when state officials declined to appeal a like ruling.
This week's addition of Oregon and Pennsylvania to the states where same-sex marriage is legal, means that nearly 44% of Americans now live in a place where same-sex couples are free to marry the person they love.
Judge Jones concluded his ruling by comparing same-sex marriage laws to the result of Brown v. Board of Education which challenged the idea of separate but equal. He said "'separate' has thankfully faded into history and only 'equal' remains."
Since the beginning of the year, federal judges in ten states as well as a state judge in Arkansas have ruled against bans on same-sex marriage. Decisions in Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Texas, Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Idaho are currently under appeal.
At least one of those cases is expected to reach the Supreme Court, which will not be able to hide behind a "sort of " decision this time. Last year's ruling against DOMA was a good first step, but now it's time to finish the job.
No comments:
Post a Comment