Gay marriages begin in Wisconsin after ruling
Last state faces challenge to gay marriage ban
Seven couples filed a federal lawsuit Friday challenging the constitutional prohibition on same-sex marriage in North Dakota, making it the last state in the country with a ban to be sued by gay couples seeking the right to marry in their home state. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Fargo, challenges both North Dakota’s ban on gay marriage and its refusal to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples who legally wed in other states.
Associated Press
Same-sex couples began getting married in Wisconsin on Friday within minutes of a federal judge’s striking down the state’s gay marriage ban and despite confusion over the effect of the ruling.
Clerks in Madison and Milwaukee started marrying same-sex couples Friday evening. They did so even though both Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen and Chris Ahmuty, director of the Wisconsin chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged the law in court, said the ruling did not clear the way for marriages to begin.
Later, Van Hollen asked Crabb for an emergency ruling preserving the ban until she clarifies her ruling, saying confusion and uncertainty is resulting.
Renee Currie and Shari Roll, both of Madison, were first in line at the county courthouse in Madison and were married on the street just a block from the Capitol. In Milwaukee, about 75 people cheered as two men were married in the hallway outside the clerk’s office at the county courthouse.
Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said he would keep his courthouse open until 9 p.m. so same-sex couples could get married.
“I have been waiting decades for this day to finally arrive and we won’t make loving couples wait longer than they want to get married,” Abele said.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb’s ruling late Friday declared the law unconstitutional. But the judge also asked the couples who sued to describe exactly what they wanted her to block in the law, then gave Van Hollen’s office a chance to respond. She said she would later decide whether to put her underlying decision on hold while it is appealed.
Van Hollen vowed to appeal.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit in February on behalf of four gay couples challenging Wisconsin’s constitutional ban on gay marriage. The lawsuit alleged Wisconsin’s ban violates the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights to equal protection and due process, asserting the prohibition deprives gay couples of the legal protections that married couples enjoy simply because of their gender.
Gay rights activists have won 15 consecutive lower court cases since a landmark Supreme Court ruling last summer, with Wisconsin being the latest. Many of those rulings are being appealed.
Chris Plante, a spokesman for the National Organization for Marriage, said the recent court rulings have created a distorted perception of public sentiment.
“This is not a wave of popular opinion that is being changed by any stretch of the imagination,” he said. “This is simply a wave of justices who are legislating from the bench.”
Republican Gov. Scott Walker, a potential 2016 Republican candidate for president, has a long history of opposing gay marriage. But in recent months he’s avoided talking directly about the state’s ban, which he supported, saying it’s an issue that needs to be decided by the courts and voters.
Walker’s likely Democratic challenger in the governor’s race, Mary Burke, supports legalizing gay marriage.
