'Day for celebration' as judge strikes down Nebraska's gay marriage ban

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/02/nebraska-same-sex-marriage-ban-blocked-federal-judge

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Same-sex marriage could begin in Nebraska as early as next week, after a federal judge struck down the state’s ban on Monday.

Almost immediately after the decision was announced, the state attorney general, Doug Peterson, filed an appeal to the ruling made by US district judge Joseph Bataillon, which ordered an end to enforcing the ban.

Bataillon said the ban was unconstitutional because it was an “unabashedly gender-specific infringement of the equal rights of [Nebraska’s] citizens”. He ordered all state officials to give same-sex couples the same marriage licensing rights and protections as different-sex couples, starting on 9 March at 8am CT.

In November, the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska sued the state. Seven same-sex couples are plaintiffs in the suit, including one couple who were legally married in California in 2008.

“Those that have resided in Nebraska have not caused damage to society at large or to the institution of marriage,” Battalion said in a memo filed on Monday. He also tore apart the state’s argument that allowing such marriages would challenge family stability, and said blocking such marriages caused provable harm to families and especially children.

“The policy has no rational connection to the state’s purported purpose of strengthening families and, in fact, it thwarts that purpose by denying deserving children a stable home,” Baraillon said. “All of the plaintiffs have demonstrated harm to their dignity and psyche in being treated as second-class citizens.”

Nebraska’s voter-approved ban, which passed in 2000, also legalized domestic partnerships. Bataillon first struck down the ban in 2005, but the US eighth circuit court of appeals overturned his decision a year later.

Since then, only one circuit court has ruled against same-sex marriage – the sixth circuit. Oral arguments for cases from the four states involved – Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee and Ohio – are expected in the US supreme court at the end of April. The court’s ruling is due by the end of June and could be the once-and-for-all decision on the legality of same-sex marriage.

Battalion predicted in his memorandum that the supreme court would rule in favor of marriage equality, in line with marriage equality decisions made in the fourth, seventh, ninth and 10th circuit courts of appeal. He went on to say the court itself has “telegraphed its leanings” in other same-sex marriage cases.

In the memorandum, Bataillon denied the state’s oral request for a stay, saying it would cause “severe irreparable harm”, but put the decision on temporary hold so the state could deal with “administrative turmoil”.

The ACLU of Nebraska executive director, Danielle Conrad, said Monday was “a day for celebration”.

“The love and commitment our clients share will finally be entitled to equality and respect in the eyes of the law,” Conrad said.

“Today, Nebraska’s motto of ‘equality before the law’ rings true for gay and lesbian Nebraskans who seek to have their marriages recognized or who seek the freedom to marry right here in our great state.”