Colorado Joints States Whose Gay Marriage Ban Ruled Unconstitutional

Yet another domino fell today when a Colorado state court judge ruled that Colorado's gay marriage ban is unconstitutional.   The state court ruling followed the ruling by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals (the 10th Circuit encompasses Colorado) that upheld a U.S. District Court determination that Utah's gay marriage ban was unconstitutional under the United States Constitution.  Ultimately, all of the rulings track back to the decision in United States v. Windsor that struck down Section 3 of DOMA and concluded that anti-gay animus was the true motivation behind gay marriage bans.  Here are highlights from the Denver Post:

An Adams County District Court judge on Wednesday declared Colorado's ban on same-sex marriages unconstitutional, but he immediately stayed his ruling.

The ruling makes Colorado the latest in a string of 16 states that have seen their bans on same-sex marriages tossed out by state and federal judges.

The ruling came as another judge in Boulder County considered a request by Attorney General John Suthers to stop a county clerk from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. Last week, attorneys filed a federal lawsuit seeking to challenge Colorado's gay marriage ban.

Attorneys for 18 plaintiffs — nine couples — from Denver and Adams counties argued that the state's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage violates the U.S. Constitution.


Adams County District Court Judge C. Scott Crabtree issued his 49-page ruling Wednesday afternoon, saying he "heartily endorses" a recent ruling by a Denver-based federal appeals court in a similar case.

"The Court holds that the Marriage Bans violate plaintiffs' due process and equal protection guarantees under the Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution," Crabtree said in his ruling. 

"The existence of civil unions is further evidence of discrimination against same-sex couples and does not ameliorate the discriminatory effect of the Marriage Bans."

Crabtree also said: "If civil unions were truly the same as marriages, they would be called marriages and not civil unions. If they were the same, there would be no need for both of them."

The judge acknowledged that his court would not offer the final word on the subject. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently tossed out Utah's similar ban on gay marriage.

"The final chapter of this debate will undoubtedly have to be written either in Denver, Colorado or Washington, D.C.," the judge wrote. "While the striking down of laws banning same-sex marriages has been progressing at a rapid rate, it will take time for this issue to be finally resolved."


"I think what I find telling is that Judge Crabtree actually says that the justifications the state uses to deny same-sex couples marriage are just pre-text for discrimination," McHugh said. "I think that is an important ruling, that this isn't just about protecting marriage, this is about discrimination against same-sex couples."

During arguments last month, Suthers' office defended the state's ban on gay marriage, arguing that 15 state and federal judges who had struck down similar measures in other states were wrong.
But Crabtree mocked the state's argument that Colorado's ban on same-sex marriage protects the "nature of marriage" and the ability to produce children.