Same-Sex Marriage Approved In Virginia
Cody Brooks | | Aug 13, 2014 11:05 PM EDT |
US Appeals Court junks ban on same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage will be recognized in Virginia as early as next week after a federal court denied a request to delay an official dismissal of the state's same-sex marriage ban laws.
On Wednesday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia rejected a request by circuit court clerk Michéle McQuigg to deny their ruling to repeal same-sex marriage laws as unconstitutional.
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Though McQuigg's attorney said she will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to delay the repeal, both the recognition of same-sex marriages from out of state and the ability to apply for a marriage license will go into effect next Wednesday.
The only thing that would prevent this would be a Supreme Court ruling to delay the repeal.
While the Fourth Circuit includes West Virgina, the Carolinas, and Maryland, the repeal technically applies only to Virginia itself, USA Today reports.
Nancy Leong, law professor at the University of Maryland, said that even though the repeal only applies to Virginia, the federal courts will likely force the other states to observe the ruling.
As expected, not all in Virginia are happy. Senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom Byron Babione, the organization representing McQuigg, said in a statement that Virginia should have the right to defend traditional marriage.
"The people of Virginia and every other state should continue to be free to preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman in their laws if they choose to do so," Babione said in a statement.
The panel of judges deciding the case voted 2 to 1 that a same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional.
The decision is one of many that have been sweeping the nation after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Federal Defense of Marriage Act.
Maryland already accepts same-sex marriage.
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