Gay Rights Advocates Celebrate Court Ruling on Marriage
Saturday, August 07, 2010
A leading gay rights group in Rhode Island is joining others around the country in celebrating a U.S. District Court decision this week that struck down a California ban on same-sex marriage.
“This decision says that the rights and protections of the United States Constitution apply to all Americans, not just some,” said Kathy J. Kushnir, executive director of Marriage Equality Rhode Island. “All loving, committed couples, all families, are to be treated fairly and equally under the law.”
U.S. District Court Judge Ruled that Vaughn Walker declared the state “does not have an interest in enforcing private moral or religious beliefs without an accompany secular purpose” and that “tradition alone” was not enough of a basis for the law. Walker concluded that a 2008 ballot initiative, Proposition 8, was unconstitutional because it violated the Equal Protection Clause.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTWalker said that gay couples were not seeking new rights, but simply the recognition that their relationships were marriages.
The case will now be appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and could end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.
In the meantime, Kushnir said she hopes the ruling bolsters the efforts of gay rights groups to get same-sex marriage approved in Rhode Island, saying that lawmakers would be considering a bill on the issue in the next session.
“We celebrate this decision and pledge to achieve equality here,” Kushnir said. “Families are at risk today. Gay and lesbian Rhode Islanders should be able to affirm their love in the way our society recognizes, through marriage, and marry in the state they call home.”
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