Judge rules Michigan gay marriage ban unconstitutional
By Josh Haggis
A US Judge has ruled that Michigan’s same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional.
In a ruling yesterday (March 21), US District Judge Bernard Friedman said that the same-sex marriage ban was unfair to the children of gay couples in the state, according to The Associated Press.
Discussing his ruling, Judge Friedman said: “Many Michigan residents have religious convictions whose principles govern the conduct of their daily lives and inform their own viewpoints about marriage. Nonetheless, these views cannot strip other citizens of the guarantees of equal protection under the law.”
Michigan citizens April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse brought the case to trial, after being denied the right to adopt each other’s children.
The state has already begun issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, and earlier today (March 22), The Guardian reports, two women married and became the first gay couple to marry in the state since the ruling.
The ruling makes Michigan the fifth state since 2014 began to overturn a ban on same-sex marriage, after Texas, Oklahoma, Utah and Virginia.
An appeal has been launched in response to the ruling.