Pennsylvania judge strikes down gay marriage ban
By Sam Rigby
A federal judge in Pennsylvania has put an end to the state’s ban on same-sex marriages.
If the ruling goes unchallenged then Pennsylvania will become the 19th US state to legalise gay marriage, following a ruling in Oregon on Monday (May 19).
On Tuesday (May 20), Judge John E. Jones III said of the marriage ban: “We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them into the ash heap of history.”
He did not issue a stay, meaning same-sex couples are now free to marry, the New York Times reports.
“By virtue of this ruling, same-sex couples who seek to marry in Pennsylvania may do so, and already married same-sex couples will be recognised as such in the Commonwealth,” he explained.
The legalisation of same-sex marriage in Oregon and Pennsylvania comes just over ten years after Massachusetts became the first state to do so in May 2004.
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