Michigan federal court judge strikes down same-sex marriage ban

A Detroit federal judge's decision is just one of the many rulings across the US who has declared that the current legislation that deny the marriage of same-sex couples has violated the Constitution. According to the New York Times, Judge Bernard Friedman of Federal District Court acknowledged in court that the guarantee of equal protection should prevail.

On the other hand, the Times said Friedman stopped short on whether same-sex couples in the state could now apply for marriage licenses. Moreover, Friedman was reportedly mum on whether the implementation of his ruling, which was delivered late Friday afternoon, will be delayed just like what the state federal judges have done, until the state could appeal for a reversal before the United States Court of Appeal for the Sixth Circuit panel in Cincinnati. A notice filed by Michigan attorney general Bill Schuette following Friedman's decision indicated that the state will appeal.

The decision has addressed a legal challenged brought about by same-sex couple and nurses April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse. The Times said the two each adopted special-needs children and had been raising them as a family. Their original lawsuit in 2010 was aimed to overturn a state law that does not allow them to adopt all of the children as a couple as oppose to as individuals. The paper said DeBoer and Rowse wanted to protect their adopted children in case one of them dies. Later on, the lawsuit was expanded to challenge the state ban on civil unions aside from same-sex marriages.

The Times said the Michigan case gained special attention because the federal court allowed testimony from social-science researchers on how same-sex marriages impact families and children. The state in its defense presented studies that concluded that children from same-sex couples are performing worse in life. Friedman sided with the plaintiffs and said that the state's cited studies were already discredited and are deeply flawed.

Tags

Michigan ban on same sex couples, United States Court of Appeal for the Sixth Circuit, US Constitution on spousal rights

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