Same-Sex Marriage Bans Overturned in Pennsylvania and Oregon
Two more states have joined others, including New York, in legalizing same-sex marriage.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned portions of the Defense of Marriage Act, several states have legalized same-sex marriage or chosen not to oppose court decisions that authorize marriage between two persons of the same gender.
In May, Pennsylvania and Oregon followed suit in what can only be considered a historic time in this country for the observation of rights for same-sex couples. Details of developments include:
- Oregon became the 18th state to recognize same-sex marriage after federal court Judge Michael McShane ruled on the marriage ban. Judge McShane found the ban was unconstitutional and discriminatory.
- In Pennsylvania, federal court Judge John Johns III wrote, “In future generations the label same-sex marriage will be abandoned, to be replaced simply by marriage. We are a better people than what these laws represent.” Pennsylvania became the 19th state to recognize same-sex marriage.
- In Utah, the federal court ruled the state must recognize the marriage vows of more than 1,000 couples who married in a brief period before an emergency stay was issued pending appeal.
- In the same week, legal challenges to same-sex marriage bans were filed in Montana and South Dakota, leaving North Dakota as the only state without a pending legal challenge to its same-sex marriage ban.
New York legalized same-sex marriage under the Marriage Equality Act (MEA) in July of 2011. It is only a matter of time before the U.S. Supreme Court must take up the issue again.
With the right to marry comes the freedom to divorce. If you and your partner are calling it quits in New York, contact me at Bryan L. Salamone and Associates, P.C. for skilled legal service.