Va. gay-marriage ban voided
Ruling is the first for a U.S. appeals court in the South. N.C. attorney general will stop defending ban there.
RICHMOND, Va. - Virginia's same-sex marriage ban was ruled unconstitutional Monday in the first such decision by a federal appellate court in the South.
"We recognize that same-sex marriage makes some people deeply uncomfortable. However," wrote Judge Henry F. Floyd, "inertia and apprehension are not legitimate bases for denying same-sex couples due process and equal protection of the laws."
The 2-1 ruling applies throughout the circuit that also includes West Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas, where the attorneys general split Monday on what they would do next. North Carolina's top lawman, Roy Cooper, quickly announced that he would stop defending his state's ban, saying it was "time to stop making arguments we will lose." But a spokesman for South Carolina's attorney general, Alan Wilson, said he saw no need to change course.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond is the second federal appellate court to overturn gay marriage bans, and the first to affect the South, a region where the rising tide of rulings favoring marriage equality is testing concepts of states' rights that have long held sway.
Virginians voted 57 percent to 43 percent in 2006 to amend their constitution to ban gay marriage. Virginia laws prohibit recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. Floyd wrote that Virginia's measures "impermissibly infringe on its citizens' fundamental right to marry."
Defenders of marriage bans are likely to ask for a stay pending their next appeal; otherwise, marriage licenses to Virginia's same-sex couples could begin to be issued in 21 days.
Gay-marriage proponents have won more than 20 legal decisions around the country since the U.S. Supreme Court last year struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Most are still under appeal. More than 70 cases have been filed in all 31 states that prohibit same-sex marriage. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia allow such marriages.
The U.S. Supreme Court could have at least five appellate decisions to consider if it were to take up gay marriage again in its next term, beginning in October.
The Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati will hear arguments Aug. 6 for Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The Seventh Circuit in Chicago is set for arguments Aug. 26 and the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco for Sept. 8. The 10th Circuit in Denver overturned Utah's ban in June.
"I am proud that the Commonwealth of Virginia is leading on one of the most important civil rights issues of our day," Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said. "We are fighting for the right of loving, committed couples to enter the bonds of marriage."