Judge Strikes Down Michigan’s Voter-Approved Ban on Gay Marriage
Photo Credit: Getty Images Michigan’s ban on gay marriage, approved by voters in a landslide in 2004, was scratched from the state constitution by a federal judge who said the ballot box is no defense to a law that tramples the rights of same-sex couples.
Clerks who handle marriage licenses in Michigan’s 83 counties said they would start granting them to gays and lesbians — three as early as Saturday — although Attorney General Bill Schuette asked a higher court Friday to freeze the landmark ruling while an appeal is pursued. It was not known when a federal appeals court in Cincinnati would respond.
Schuette noted that the U.S. Supreme Court in January stepped in and suspended a similar decision that struck down Utah’s gay-marriage ban.
“A stay would serve the public interest by preserving the status quo … while preventing irreparable injury to the state and its citizens,” he said.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman was historic, following a two-week trial that explored attitudes and research about homosexual marriage and households led by same-sex couples. The judge rejected the conclusions of experts hired by the state to defend the rationale behind a constitutional amendment that recognizes marriage only as between a man and a woman.
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