A United States federal court wiped out bans on gay and lesbian weddings in 5 more United States’ states, bringing the number where same sex weddings are permissible, or very soon would be, to thirty five.
In great news for gay and lesbian wedding supporters, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal handed down rulings covering Idaho and Nevada yesterday, but their findings also cover places like Arizona, Montana and Alaska.
The ruling read: “Intentional discrimination on the basis of gender by state actors violates the Equal Protection Clause,”
“Idaho and Nevada’s same-sex marriage proscriptions are sex based, and these bans do serve to preserve ‘invidious, archaic, and overbroad stereotypes’ concerning gender roles,”
“The bans therefore must fail as impermissible gender discrimination.”
The campaigners of same sex wedding welcomed the move and stated that this means sixty four percent of the Americans now live in places where same sex wedding is legally possible or soon be possible.
Freedom to Marry’s chief Evan Wolfson stated that they expect that the other federal appellate courts would move swiftly to end the disparity and unfair denial that too many loving and committed couples in the fifteen remaining states endure.
The newest ruling came a day after Supreme Court, earlier on Monday, denied to consider, a countrywide ruling on the divisive matter. In a sudden move, the top United States court ignored appeals from states like Oklahoma, Utah, Indiana, Wisconsin and Virginia where state level bans on gay weddings had been deemed unconstitutional.