Despite the claims of Brian Brown and other anti-gay hate merchants that "the tide has turned" because the Supreme Court stayed the 4th Circuit ruling that would have allowed marriages to begin in Virginia yesterday (he also cited a lone Tennessee lower state court ruling), the surge in federal court rulings continues in favor of marriage equality. Yesterday, Florida joined the ranks of state that have seen their anti-gay animus inspired bans on same sex marriage invalidated. The Miami Herald has details - here are highlights:
In the first decision on same-sex marriage with statewide impact, a federal judge ruled Thursday that Florida’s gay-marriage ban is unconstitutional, ordering the state to allow the marriage of same-sex couples and to recognize marriages performed elsewhere.
“When observers look back 50 years from now, the arguments supporting Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage, though just as sincerely held, will again seem an obvious pretext for discrimination,” wrote U.S District Judge Robert L. Hinkle of Tallahassee. “Observers who are not now of age will wonder just how those views could have been held.”
Hinkle, who stayed most of the effects of his ruling pending appeal, added: “The institution of marriage survived when bans on interracial marriage were struck down, and the institution will survive when bans on same-sex marriage are struck down. Liberty, tolerance, and respect are not zero-sum concepts. Those who enter opposite-sex marriages are harmed not at all when others, including these plaintiffs, are given the liberty to choose their own life partners and are shown the respect that comes with formal marriage. Tolerating views with which one disagrees is a hallmark of civilized society.”
[Florida Attorney General Pam] Bondi spokesman Whitney Ray declined to say whether the attorney general’s office will take the case to the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. “We’re reviewing the ruling,” he said.
Hinkle wrote that the state presented no good argument for defending the law: “The undeniable truth is that the Florida ban on same-sex marriage stems entirely, or almost entirely, from moral disapproval of the practice.”
The judge also wrote he didn’t buy Bondi’s defense that a “critical feature of marriage is the capacity to procreate.”
“Same-sex couples, like opposite-sex couples and single individuals, can adopt, but same-sex couples cannot procreate,” Hinkle wrote. “Neither can many opposite-sex couples. And many opposite-sex couples do not wish to procreate.”
Said attorney Stephen Rosenthal of Podhurst Orseck in Miami, who represents the eight couples in the ACLU case: “What that means, if you read what he’s saying is that, ‘This is a bogus defense.’”
Note the veiled call for civil insurrection coming from FRC.The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops on Thursday supported Bondi’s procreation defense: . . .The conservative Family Research Council in Washington blasted Hinkle’s ruling. “A radical departure from natural law and human history, this Florida judge has further undermined the legitimacy of the courts in the eyes of the American people. These liberal activist judges may want to take America over the cultural cliff, but don’t be surprised when more and more Americans refuse to follow,” FRC Senior Fellow Chris Gacek said in a statement.
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