When Pennsylvania's Governor Corbett decided not to appeal the federal court decision declaring the state ban on marriage recognition, the Commonwealth became the 20th marriage equality jurisdiction in the U.S. Approximately 44% of the US population now lives in a marriage equality jurisdiction.
Earlier this week lesbian and gay couples in Montana and South Dakota filed challenges to their state bans on recognizing marriages between same-sex couples. That leaves North Dakota as the only state in which no legal challenge is pending.
Every federal district court that has heard a challenge has found the bans unconstitutional under the U.S. Constitution. Appeals are pending in most U.S. Circuit Courts. No one knows how the Circuits will rule on those appeals. Everyone expects the U.S. Supreme Court to accept at least one case in the 2015 or 2016 term. Until then, with the exception of the Pennsylvania decision, all the lower court decisions are on hold.
Utah has been ordered to recognize the marriages that occurred before the Supreme Court issued a stay in that state's challenge case. The 10th Circuit in Denver, which will decide the appeals in the Oklahoma and Utah cases, is expected to be the first to issue a ruling on the matter.
Rulings in the other appeals may not be issued until 2015.
Still, the tide seems to have turned and marriage equality for lesbian and gay couples...and their children...is becoming a reality.
Stay tuned; more to come.
Earlier this week lesbian and gay couples in Montana and South Dakota filed challenges to their state bans on recognizing marriages between same-sex couples. That leaves North Dakota as the only state in which no legal challenge is pending.
Every federal district court that has heard a challenge has found the bans unconstitutional under the U.S. Constitution. Appeals are pending in most U.S. Circuit Courts. No one knows how the Circuits will rule on those appeals. Everyone expects the U.S. Supreme Court to accept at least one case in the 2015 or 2016 term. Until then, with the exception of the Pennsylvania decision, all the lower court decisions are on hold.
Utah has been ordered to recognize the marriages that occurred before the Supreme Court issued a stay in that state's challenge case. The 10th Circuit in Denver, which will decide the appeals in the Oklahoma and Utah cases, is expected to be the first to issue a ruling on the matter.
Rulings in the other appeals may not be issued until 2015.
Still, the tide seems to have turned and marriage equality for lesbian and gay couples...and their children...is becoming a reality.
Stay tuned; more to come.
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